iiil 


I 


*  JAN     35 


v^O 


BR  555  .C8  Gl    1905 
Greene,  M.  Louise 
The  development  of  religious^ 
liberty  in  Connecticut 


THE   DEVELOPMENT   OF 

RELIGIOUS   LIBERTY 

IN 

CONNECTICUT 


THE    DEVELOPMENT   OF 

RELIGIOUS  LIBERTY 

IN  CONNECTICUT 

BY 

M.  LOUISE   GREENE,  PhD. 


BOSTON   AND    NEW   YORK 

HOUGHTON,  MIFFLIN  AND  COMPANY 
($foe  fiitoei#ibe  $reg£,  Cambrifcae 

1905 


COPYRIGHT    I905   BY   M.   LOUISE   GREENE 
ALL    RIGHTS   RESERVED 

Published  November  iqoj 


PREFACE 

The  following  monograph  is  the  outgrowth  of 
three  earlier  and  shorter  essays.  The  first, 
"Church  and  State  in  Connecticut  to  1818," 
was  presented  to  Yale  University  as  a  doctor's 
thesis.  The  second,  a  briefer  and  more  popularly 
written  article,  won  the  Straus  prize  offered  in 
1896  through  Brown  University  by  the  Hon. 
Oscar  S.  Straus.  The  third,  a  paper  containing 
additional  matter,  was  so  far  approved  by  the 
American  Historical  Association  as  to  receive 
honorable  mention  in  the  Justin  Winsor  prize 
competition  of  1901. 

With  such  encouragement,  it  seemed  as  if  the 
history  of  the  development  of  religious  liberty  in 
Connecticut  might  serve  a  larger  purpose  than 
that  of  satisfying  personal  interest  alone.  In 
Connecticut  such  development  was  not  marked, 
as  so  often  elsewhere,  by  wild  disorder,  outra- 
geous oppression,  tyranny  of  classes,  civil  war, 
or  by  any  great  retrograde  movement.  Connect- 
icut was  more  modern  in  her  progress  towards 
such  liberty,  and  her  contribution  to  advancing 
civilization  was  a  pattern  of  stability,  of  reason- 


vi  PREFACE 

ableness  in  government,  and  of  a  slow  broadening 
out  of  the  conception  of  liberty,  as  she  gradually 
softened  down  her  restrictions  upon  religious  and 
personal  freedom. 

And  yet,  Connecticut  is  recalled  as  a  part  of 
that  New  England  where  those  not  Congrega- 
tionalists,  the  unorthodox  or  radical  thinkers, 
found  early  and  late  an  uncomfortable  atmos- 
phere and  restricted  liberties.  By  a  study  of  her 
past,  I  have  hoped  to  contribute  to  a  fairer  judg- 
ment of  the  men  and  measures  of  colonial  times, 
and  to  a  correct  estimate  of  those  essentials  in 
religion  and  morals  which  endure  from  age  to 
age,  and  which  alone,  it  would  seem,  must  consti- 
tute the  basis  of  that  "  ultimate  union  of  Chris- 
tendom "  toward  which  so  many  confidently  look. 
The  past  should  teach  the  present,  and  one  gen- 
eration, from  dwelling  upon  the  transient  beliefs 
and  opinions  of  a  preceding,  may  better  judge 
what  are  the  non-essentials  of  its  own. 

Connecticut's  individual  experiment  in  the 
union  of  Church  and  State  is  separable  neither 
from  the  New  England  setting  of  her  earliest 
days  nor  from  the  early  years  of  that  Congrega- 
tionalism which  the  colony  approved  and  es- 
tablished. Hence,  the  opening  chapters  of  her 
story  must  treat  of  events  both  in  old  England 
and  in  New.    And  because  religious  liberty  was 


PREFACE  vii 

finally  won  by  a  coalition  of  men  like-minded  in 
their  attitude  towards  rights  of  conscience  and 
in  their  desire  for  certain  necessary  changes  and 
reforms  in  government,  the  final  chapters  must 
deal  with  social  and  political  conditions  more 
than  with  those  purely  religious.  It  may  be  per- 
tinent to  remark  that  the  passing  of  a  hundred 
years  since  the  divorce  of  Church  and  State  and 
the  reforms  of  a  century  ago  have  brought  to  the 
commonwealth  some  of  the  same  deplorable 
political  conditions  that  the  men  of  the  past, 
the  first  Constitutional  Reform  Party,  swept 
away  by  the  peaceful  revolution  of  1818. 

For  encouragement,  assistance,  and  sugges- 
tions, I  am  especially  indebted  to  Professor 
George  B.  Adams  and  Professor  Williston 
Walker  of  Yale  University,  to  Professor  Charles 
M.  Andrews  of  Bryn  Mawr,  to  Dr.  William  G. 
Andrews,  rector  of  Christ  Church,  Guilford, 
Conn.,  and  to  Professor  Lucy  M.  Salmon  of  Vas- 
sar  College.  Of  numerous  libraries,  my  largest 
debt  is  to  that  of  Yale  University. 

M.  Louise  Greene. 

New  Haven,  October  20,  1905. 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

I.  The  Evolution  of  Early  Congregationalism      1 

Preparation  of  the  English  nation  for  the  two  earliest  forms  of 
Congregationalism,  Brownism  and  Barrowism.  —  Rise  of  Sepa- 
ratism and  Puritanism.  —  Non-conformists  during  Queen  Mary's 
reign.  —  Revival  of  the  Reformation  movement  under  Queen 
Elizabeth.— Development  of  Presbyterianism.  —  Three  Cam- 
bridge men,  Robert  Browne,  Henry  Greenwood,  and  Henry 
Barrowe.  —  Brownism  and  Barrowism.  —  The  Puritans  under 
Elizabeth,  her  early  tolerance  and  later  change  of  policy.— 
Arrest  of  the  Puritan  movement  by  the  clash  between  Episcopal 
and  Presbyterian  forms  of  polity  and  the  pretensions  of  the 
latter.  —  James  the  First  and  his  policy  of  conformity.  —  Exile 
of  the  Gainsborough  and  Scrooby  Separatists.  —  Separatist 
writings.  —  General  approachment  of  Puritans  and  Separatists 
in  their  ideas  of  church  polity.  —  The  Scrooby  exiles  in  Amer- 
ica. —  Sympathy  of  the  Separatists  of  Plymouth  Colony  with 
both  the  English  Established  Church  and  with  English  Pur- 
itans. 

II.  The  Transplanting  of  Congregationalism      41 

English  Puritans  decide  to  colonize  in  America.  —  Friendly  re- 
lations between  the  settlements  of  Salem  and  Plymouth.— 
Salem  decides  upon  the  character  of  her  church  organization.  — 
Arrival  of  Higginson  and  Skelton  with  recruits.  —  Formation  of 
the  Salem  church  and  election  of  officers.  —  Governor  Bradford 
and  delegates  from  Plymouth  present.  — The  beginning  of  Con- 
gregational polity  among  the  Puritans  and  the  break  with 
English  Episcopacy.  —  Formation  and  organization  of  the  New 
England  churches. 

III.  Church  and  State  in  New  England         .        58 

Church  and  State  in  the  four  New  England  colonies.  —  Early 
theological  dissensions  and  disturbances.  —  Colonial  legislation 
in  behalf  of  religion.  —  Development  of  state  authority  at  the 
cost  of  the  independence  of  the  church.  —  Desire  of  Massachu- 
setts for  a  platform  of  church  discipline.  —  Practical  working  of 
the  theory  of  Church  and  State  in  Connecticut. 


x  CONTENTS 

IV.  The  Cambridge  Platform  and  the  Half- Way 

Covenant 76 

Necessity  of  a  church  platform  to  resist  innovations,  to  answer 
English  criticism,  and  to  meet  changing  conditions  of  colonial 
life.  —  Summary  of  the  Cambridge  Platform.  —  Of  the  history  of 
Congregationalism  to  the  year  1648.  —  Attempt  to  discipline  the 
Hartford,  Conn.,  church  according  to  the  Platform.  —  Spread  of 
its  schism.  —Petition  to  the  Connecticut  General  Court  for 
some  method  of  relief.—  The  Ministerial  Convention  or  "  Synod  " 
of  1657.  —  Its  Half- Way  Covenant.  —  Attitude  of  the  Connecticut 
churches  towards  the  measure.  —  Pifcdn's  petition  to  the  Gen- 
eral Court  of  Connecticut  for  broader  church  privileges.  —  The 
Court's  favorable  reply.— Renewed  outbreak  of  schism  in  the 
Hartford  and  other  churches.  —  Failure  in  the  calling  of  a 
synod  of  New  England  churches.  —  The  Connecticut  Court  es- 
tablishes the  Congregational  Church.  — Connecticut's  first  tol- 
eration act.  —  Settlement  of  the  Hartford  dispute.  —  The  new 
order  and  its  important  modifications  of  ecclesiastical  polity. 

V.  A  Period  of  Transition 121 

Drift  from  religious  to  secular,  and  from  intercolonial  to  indi- 
vidual interests.  —  Reforming  Synod  of  1680.  —  Religious  life  in 
the  last  quarter  of  the  seventeenth  century.  —  The  "  Proposals 
of  1705  "  in  Massachusetts.—  Introduction  in  Connecticut  of  the 
Saybrook  System  of  Consociated  Church  government. 

VI.  The  Saybrook  Platform        ....  138 

The  Confession  of  Faith.— Heads  of  Agreement.  —  Fifteen 
Articles. —  Attitude  of  the  churches  towards  the  Platform.— 
Formation  of  Consociations.—  The  "  Proviso  "  in  the  act  of  es- 
tablishment. —  Neglect  to  read  the  proviso  to  the  Norwich 
church.  —  Contention  arising.  —  The  Norwich  church  as  an  ex- 
ample of  the  difficulty  of  collecting  church  rates. 

VII.  The  Saybrook  Platform  and  the  Toleration 

Act 153 

Toleration  in  the  "  Proviso  "  of  the  act  establishing  the  Say- 
brook Platform.  —  Reasons  for  passing  the  Toleration  Act 
of  1708.  —  Baptist  dissenters.  —  Rogerine-Baptists,  Rogerine- 
Quakers  or  Rogerines,  and  their  persecution.  —  Attitude  toward 
the  Society  of  Friends  or  Quakers.  —  Toward  the  Church  of 
England  men  or  Episcopalians.  — Political  events  parallel  in 
time  with  the  dissenters'  attempts  to  secure  exemption  from  the 
support  of  the  Connecticut  Establishment.  —  General  ineffec- 
tiveness of  the  Toleration  Act. 

VIII.  The  First  Victory  for  Dissent  .  .  191 
General  dissatisfaction  with  the  Toleration  Act.  —  Episcopa- 
lians resent  petty  persecution.  —  Their  desire  for  an  American 


CONTENTS  xi 

episcopate.  —  Conversion  of  Cutler,  Rector  of  Yale  College,  and 
others.  —  Bishop  Gibson's  correspondence  with  Governor  Tal- 
cott.  —  Petition  of  the  Fairfield  churchmen.  —  Law  of  1727  ex- 
empting Churchmen.  —  Persecution  growing  out  of  neglect  to 
enforce  the  law.  —  Futile  efforts  of  the  Rogerines  to  obtain  ex- 
emption. —  Charges  against  the  Colony  of  Connecticut.  —  The 
Winthrop  case.  —  Quakers  attempt  to  secure  exemption  from 
ecclesiastical  rates.  —  Exemption  granted  to  Quakers  and 
Baptists.  —  Relative  position  of  the  dissenting  and  established 
churches  in  Connecticut. 

IX.  "The  Great  Awakening"       .        .        .        .220 

Minor  revivals  in  Connecticut  before  1740.  —  Low  tone  of  moral 
and  religious  life.— Jonathan  Edwards's  sermons  at  North- 
ampton. —  Revival  of  religious  interest  and  its  spread  among 
the  people.  —  The  Rev.  George  Whitefield.  —  The  Great  Awak- 
ening. —  Its  immediate  results. 

X.  The  Great  Schism 233 

The  Separatist  churches.  —  Old  Lights  and  New.  —  Opposition 
to  the  revival  movement.  — Severe  colony  laws  of  1742-43  — 
Illustrations  of  oppression  of  reformed  churches,  as  the  North 
Church  of  New  Haven,  the  Separatist  Church  of  Canterbury, 
and  that  of  Enfield.  —  Persecution  of  individuals,  as  of  Rev. 
Samuel  Finlay,  James  Davenport,  John  Owen,  and  Benjamin 
Pomeroy.  —  Persecution  of  Moravian  missionaries.  —  The  col- 
ony law  of  1746, "  Concerning  who  shall  vote  in  Society  meeting." 

—  Change  in  public  opinion.  —  Summary  of  the  influence  of  the 
Great  Awakening  and  of  the  great  schism. 

XI.  The  Abrogation  of  the  Saybrook  Platform  273 

Revision  of  the  laws  of  1750.  —  Attitude  of  the  colonial  authori- 
ties toward  Baptists  and  Separatists.  —  Influence  on  colonial 
legislation  of  the  English  Committee  of  Dissenters.  —  Formation 
of  the  Church  of  Yale  College.  —  Separatist  and  Baptist  writers 
in  favor  of  toleration.  —  Frothingham's  "  Articles  of  Faith  and 
Practice."  —  Solomon  Paine's  "  Letter."  —  John  Bolles's  "To 
Worship  God  in  Spirit  and  in  Truth."  —  Israel  Holly's  "  A 
Word  in  Zion's  Behalf."  —  Frothingham's  "  Key  to  Unlock  the 
Door."  —  Joseph  Brown's  "  Letter  to  Infant  Baptizers."  — 
The  importance  of  the  colonial  newspaper.  —  Influence  of  Eng- 
lish non-conformity  upon  the  religious  thought  of  New  England. 

—  The  Edwardean  School.  —  Hopkinsinianism  and  the  New 
Divinity.  —  The  clergy  and  the  people.  —  Controversy  over  the 
renewed  proposal  for  an  American  episcopate.  — Movement  for 
consolidation  among  all  religious  bodies.  —  Influences  promot- 
ing nationalism  and,  indirectly,  religious  toleration.  —  Connect- 
icut at  the  threshold  of  the  Revolution.  —  Connecticut  clergymen 
as  advocates  of  civil  liberty.  —  Greater  toleration  in  religion 


xii  CONTENTS 

granted  by  the  laws  of  1770.  —  Development  of  the  idea  of  de- 
mocracy in  Church  and  State.  —  Exemption  of  Separatists  by  the 
revision  of  the  laws  in  1784.  —  Virtual  abrogation  of  the  Say- 
brook  Platform.  —  Status  of  Dissenters. 

XII.  Connecticut  at  the  Close  of  the  Revolu- 

tion     342 

Expansion  of  towns.  —  Revival  of  commerce  and  industries.  — 
Schools  and  literature.  —  Newspapers.  —  Rise  of  the  Anti- 
Federal  party.  —  Baptist,  Methodist,  and  Separatist  dissatisfac- 
tion. —  Growth  of  a  broader  conception  of  toleration  within  the 
Consociated  churches. 

XIII.  Certificate     Laws    and     Western     Land 

Bills 368 

Opposition  to  the  Establishment  from  dissenters,  Anti-Federal- 
ists, and  the  dissatisfied  within  the  Federal  ranks.  —  Certificate 
law  of  1791  to  allay  dissatisfaction.  — Its  opposite  effect. —A 
second  Certificate  law  to  replace  the  former.  —  Antagonism 
created  by  legislation  in  favor  of  Yale  College.  — Storm  of  pro- 
test against  the  Western  Land  bills  of  1792-93.  —  Congregational 
missions  in  Western  territory.  —  Baptist  opposition  to  legislative 
measures.  —  The  revised  Western  Land  bill  as  a  basis  for  Con- 
necticut's public  school  fund.  —  Result  of  the  opposition  roused 
by  the  Certificate  laws  and  Western  Land  bills. 

XIV.  The  Development  of  Political  Parties  in 

Connecticut 393 

Government  according  to  the  charter  of  1G62.  —  Party  tilt  over 
town  representation.  —  Anti-Federal  grievances  against  the 
Council  or  Senate,  the  Judiciary,  and  other  defective  parts  of 
the  machinery  of  government.  —  Constitutional  questions.  — 
Rise  of  the  Democratic-Republican  party.  —  Influence  of  the 
French  Revolution.  —  The  Federal  members  of  the  Establish- 
ment or  "  Standing  Order,"  the  champions  of  religious  and 
political  stability.  —  President  Dwight,  the  leader  of  the  Stand- 
ing Order.  —  Leaders  of  the  Democratic-Republicans.  —  Politi- 
cal campaigns  of  l 804-1800.  —  Sympathy  for  the  defeated  Repub- 
licans. —  Politics  at  the  close  of  the  War  of  1812. 

XV.  Disestablishment 445 

Waning  of  the  power  of  the  Federal  party  in  Connecticut.  — 
Opposition  to  the  Republican  administration  during  the  War 
of  1812.  —  Participation  In  the  Hartford  Convention.  —  Economic 
benefits  of  the  war.  —  Attitude  of  the  New  England  clergy  to- 
ward the  war. —  The  Toleration  party  of  1816.  —  Act  for  the 
Support  of  Literature  and  Religion.  —  Opposition.  —  Toleration 


CONTENTS  xiii 

and  Reform  Ticket  of  1817.—  New  Certificate  Law.  —  Constitu- 
tion and  Reform  Ticket  of  1818.  — Its  victory.  —  The  Constitu- 
tional Convention.  —  New  Constitution  of  1818.  —  Separation  of 
Church  and  State. 

APPENDIX 

Notes 497 

Bibliography 514 

INDEX 545 


THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  RELIGIOUS 
LIBERTY  IN  CONNECTICUT 


CHAPTER  I 


THE   EVOLUTION   OF   EARLY    CONGREGA- 
TIONALISM 

The  stone  which  the  builders  rejected  is  become  the  head 
of  the  corner.  —  Psalm  cxviii,  22. 

The  colonists  of  Plymouth,  Massachusetts,  Con- 
necticut, and  New  Haven  were  grounded  in  the 
system  which  became  known  as  Congregational, 
and  later  as  Congregationalism.  At  the  outset 
they  differed  not  at  all  in  creed,  and  only  in  some 
respects  in  polity,  from  the  great  Puritan  body 
in  England,  out  of  which  they  largely  came.a 

a  "  Our  pious  Ancestors  transported  themselves  with  regard 
unto  Church  Order  and  Discipline,  not  with  respect  to  the  Fun- 
damentals in  Doctrine."  —  Richard  Mather,  Attestation  to  the 
Ratio  Disciplina,  p.  10. 

"  The  issue  on  which  the  Pilgrims  and  Puritans  alike  left 
sweet  fields  and  comfortable  homes  and  settled  ways  of  the 
land  of  their  birth  for  this  raw  wilderness,  was  primarily  an 
issue  of  politics  rather  than  of  the  substance  of  religious  life." 
—  G.  L.  Walker,  Some  Aspects  of  Religious  Life  in  New  Eng' 
land,  p.  19. 


2        THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  RELIGIOUS 

For  more  than  forty  years  before  their  migra- 
tion to  New  England  there  had  been  in  old  Eng- 
land two  clearly  developed  forms  of  Congrega- 
tionalism, Brownism  and  Barrowism.  The  term 
Congregationalism,  with  its  allied  forms  Congre- 
gational and  Congregationalist,  would  not  then 
have  been  employed.  They  did  not  come  into 
general  use  until  the  latter  half  of  the  seventeenth 
century,  and  were  at  first  limited  in  usage  to  de- 
fining or  referring  to  the  modified  church  system 
of  New  England.  The  term  "  Independent "  was 
preferred  to  designate  the  somewhat  similar  polity 
among  the  nonconformist  churches  in  old  Eng- 
land.0 Brownism  and  Barrowism  are  both  in- 
cluded in  Dr.  Dexter's  comprehensive  definition 
of  Congregationalism,  using  the  term  "  to  desig- 
nate that  system  of  thought,  faith,  and  practice, 
which  starting  with  the  dictum  that  the  condi- 
tions of  church  life  are  revealed  in  the  Bible,  and 
are  thence  to  be  evolved  by  reverent  common- 
sense,  assisted  but  never  controlled  by  all  other 

a  "  After  the  17th  century  '  Independent '  was  chiefly  used 
in  England,  while  '  Congregational '  was  decidedly  preferred 
in  New  England,  where  the  '  consociation  '  of  the  churches 
formed  a  more  important  feature  of  the  system."  "  Congre- 
gational"  first  appeared  in  manuscript  in  1639,  in  print  in 
1042.  "  Congregationalist "  appeared  in  1692,  and  "  Congrega- 
tionalism," not  until  1716.  —  J.  Murray,  A  New  English  Diet, 
on  Hist.  Principles. 


LIBERTY  IN  CONNECTICUT  3 

sources  of  knowledge ;  interprets  that  book  as 
teaching  the  reality  and  independent  competency 
of  the  local  church,  and  the  duty  of  fraternity 
and  co-working  between  such  churches ;  from 
these  two  truths  symmetrically  developing  its  en- 
tire system  of  principles,  privileges,  and  obliga- 
tions." 1  The  "  independent  competency  of  the 
local  church  "  is  directly  opposed  to  any  system 
of  episcopal  government  within  the  church,  and 
is  diametrically  opposed  to  any  control  by  king, 
prince,  or  civil  government.  Yet  this  was  one  of 
the  pivotal  dogmas  of  Browne  and  of  the  later 
Separatists ;  this,  a  fundamental  doctrine  which 
Barrowe  strove  to  incorporate  into  a  new  church 
system,  but  into  one  having  sufficient  control 
over  its  local  units  to  make  it  acceptable  to  a 
people  who  were  accustomed  to  the  autonomy 
and  stability  of  a  church  both  episcopal  and 
national  in  character. 

In  order  to  appreciate  the  changes  in  church 
polity  and  in  the  religious  temper  of  the  people 
for  which  Browne  and  Barrowe  labored,  one 
must  survey  the  field  in  which  they  worked  and 

1.  See  note  1,  p.  2  of  Notes.  Notes  are  divided  into  explana- 
tory and  authoritative.  The  latter  class,  giving  for  the  most  part 
authorities  only,  have  heen  grouped  at  the  end  of  the  volume, 
and  throughout  the  text  are  indicated  by  Arabic  numerals.  The 
notes  explanatory  or  expository  in  character  are  found  as  foot- 
notes, and  referred  to  in  the  text  by  letters  of  the  alphabet. 


4        THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  RELIGIOUS 

note  sucli  preparation  as  it  had  received  before 
their  advent.  It  is  to  be  recalled  that  Henry 
VIII  substituted  for  submission  to  the  Pope 
submission  to  himself  as  head  of  a  church  essen- 
tially Romish  in  ritual,  teaching,  and  authority 
over  his  subjects.  The  religious  reformation,  as 
such,  came  later  and  by  slow  evolution  through 
the  gradual  awakening  of  the  moral  and  spiritual 
perceptions  of  the  masses.  It  came  very  slowly 
notwithstanding  the  fact  that  the  first  definite 
and  systematic  opposition  to  the  abuses  and  as- 
sumptions of  the  clergy  had  arisen  long  before 
Henry's  reign.  As  early  as  1382,  the  itinerant 
preachers,  sent  out  by  Wyckliff,  were  complained 
of  by  the  clergy  and  magistrates  as  teachers  of 
insubordinate  and  dangerous  doctrines.  Thence- 
forward, outcroppings  of  dissatisfaction  with  the 
clergy  appear  from  time  to  time  both  in  Eng- 
lish life  and  literature.  This  dissatisfaction  was 
silenced  by  various  acts  of  Parliament  which 
were  passed  to  enforce  conformity  and  to  punish 
heresy.  Their  character  and  intent  were  the 
same  whether  the  head  of  the  church  wore  the 
papal  tiara  or  the  English  crown.  Two  hun- 
dred years  after  Wyckliff,  in  1582,  laws  were 
still  fulminated  against  "  divers  false  and  per- 
verse people  of  certain  new  sects,"  for  Protestant 
England  would  support  but  one  form  of  religion 


LIBERTY  IN  CONNECTICUT  5 

as  the  moral  prop  of  the  state.  She  regarded  all 
innovations  as  questionable,  or  wholly  evil,  and 
their  authors  as  dangerous  men.  Chief  among  the 
latter  was  Robert  Browne.  But  before  Browne's 
advent  and  in  the  days  of  Henry  the  Eighth,  there 
had  been  a  large,  respectable,  and  steadily  in- 
creasing party  whose  desire  was  to  remain  within 
the  English  church,  but  to  purify  it  from  super- 
stitious rites  and  practices,  such  as  penances,  pil- 
grimages, forced  oblations,  and  votive  offerings. 
They  wished  also  to  free  the  ritual  from  many 
customs  inherited  from  the  days  of  Rome's  su- 
premacy. It  was  in  this  party  that  the  leaven  of 
Protestantism  had  been  working.  Luther  and 
Henry,  be  it  remembered,  had  died  within  a 
year  of  each  other.  Under  the  feeble  rule  of  Ed- 
ward the  Sixth,  the  English  reform  movement 
gained  rapidly,  and,  in  1550,  upon  the  refusal  of 
Bishop  Hooper  to  be  consecrated  in  the  usual 
Romish  vestments,  it  began  to  crystallize  in  two 
forms,  Separatism  and  Puritanism.3  In  spite  of 
much  opposition,  the  teachings  of  Luther,  Cal- 
vin, and  other  Continental  reformers  took  root  in 
England,  and  interested  men  of  widely  different 

a  Separatism  is  commonly  said  to  date  from  the  year  1554. 
About  1564,  the  other  branch  of  the  reform  party  was  nick- 
named "  Puritan."  —  G.  L.  Walker,  History  of  the  First  Church 
in  Hartford,  p.  6. 


6        THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  RELIGIOUS 

classes.  They  stirred  to  new  activity  the  scat- 
tered and  persecuted  groups,  that,  from  time  to 
time,  had  met  in  secret  in  London  and  elsewhere 
to  read  the  Scriptures  and  to  worship  with  their 
elected  leaders  in  some  simpler  form  of  service 
than  that  prescribed  by  law.  Under  Mary's  per- 
secution, these  Separatists  increased,  and  with 
other  Protestants  swelled  the  roll  of  martyrs.  In 
her  severity,  the  Queen  also  drove  into  exile 
many  able  and  learned  men,  who  sought  shelter 
in  Geneva,  Zurich,  Basle,  and  Frankfort,  where 
they  were  hospitably  entertained.  Upon  their  re- 
turn, there  was  a  marked  increase  in  the  Calvin- 
istic  tone  both  of  preaching  and  teaching  in  the 
English  church  and  in  the  university  lecture 
rooms,  especially  those  of  Cambridge.  Among 
the  most  influential  teachers  was  Thomas  Cart- 
wright,0  in  1560-1562,  Lady  Margaret  Pro- 
fessor of  Divinity  at  Cambridge.  While  having 
no  sympathy  with  the  nonconformist  or  Separatist 
of  his  day,  Cartwright  accepted  the  polity  and 
creed  of  Calvin  in  its  severer  form.    He  became 

a  Another  noted  preacher  who  left  an  indelible  impression 
upon  several  early  New  England  ministers  was  William  Per- 
kins, who  was  in  discourse  "  strenuous,  searching,  and  ultra- 
Calvinistic."  He  was  a  Cambridge  man,  filling  the  positions  of 
Professor  of  Divinity,  Master  of  Trinity,  and  Chancellor  of  the 
University.  —  G.  L.  Walker,  Some  Aspects  of  the  Religious  Life 
in  Neiv  England,  p.  14. 


LIBERTY  IN  CONNECTICUT  7 

junior-dean  of  St.  John's,  major-fellow  of  Trinity, 
and  a  member  of  the  governing-board.  In  1565 
he  went  to  Ireland  to  escape  the  heated  contro- 
versy of  the  period  which  centred  in  the  "  Ves- 
tiarian"  movement.  He  was  recalled. in  1569  to 
his  former  professorship,  and  in  September,  1571, 
was  forced  out  of  it  because,  when  controversy 
changed  from  vestments  to  polity,  he  took  ex- 
treme views  of  church  discipline  and  repudiated 
episcopal  government.0  While  Cartwright  was 
very  pronounced  in  his  views,  his  desire  at  first 
was  that  the  changes  in  church  polity  should  be 
brought  about  by  the  united  action  of  the  Crown 
and  Parliament.  Such  had  been  the  method  of 
introducing  changes  under  the  three  sovereigns, 
Henry,  Mary,  and  Elizabeth.  With  this  brief 
summary  of  the  reform  movements  among  the 

°  Cartwright  in  1574,  the  year  of  its  publication,  translated 
Travers's  Ecclesiasticae  Disciplinae  et  Anglicanae  Ecclesiae  ab 
ilia  Aberrationis,  plena  e  verbo  Dei  fr  dilucida  Explication  and 
made  it  the  basis  of  a  practical  attempt  to  introduce  the  Pres- 
byterian system  into  England.  More  than  five  hundred  of  the 
clergy  seconded  his  attempt,  subscribing  to  the  principles  that 
(1)  there  can  be  only  one  right  form  of  church  government, 
but  one  church  order  and  one  form  of  church,  namely,  that 
described  in  the  Scriptures  ;  (2)  that  every  local  church  should 
have  a  presbytery  of  elders  to  direct  its  affairs ;  and  (3)  that 
every  church  should  obey  the  combined  opinion  of  all  the 
churches  in  fellowship  with  it.  In  this  declaration  lay  a  blow 
at  the  Queen's  supremacy.  — H.  M.  Dexter,  Congregationalism 
as  seen  in  Lit.  p.  55. 


8        THE   DEVELOPMENT  OF  RELIGIOUS 

masses  and  in  the  universities  covering  the  years 
until  Cartwright,  through  the  influence  of  the 
ritualistic  church  party,  was  expelled  from  Cam- 
bridge, and  Kobert  Browne,  as  a  student  there, 
came  under  the  strong  Puritan  influence  of  the 
university,  we  pass  to  a  consideration  of  Brown- 
ism. 

Kobert  Browne  was  graduated  from  Cam- 
bridge in  1572,  the  year  after  Cartwright' s  ex- 
pulsion. The  next  three  years  he  taught  in 
London  and  "  wholly  bent  himself  to  search  and 
find  out  the  matters  of  the  church  :  as  to  how  it 
was  guided  and  ordered,  and  what  abuses  there 
were  in  the  ecclesiastical  government  then  used."  2 
When  the  plague  broke  out  in  London,  Browne 
went  to  Cambridge.  There,  he  refused  to  accept 
the  bishop's  license  to  preach,  though  urged  to  do 
so,  because  he  had  come  to  consider  it  as  con- 
trary to  the  authority  of  the  Scriptures.  Never- 
theless, he  continued  preaching  until  he  was 
silenced  by  the  prelate.  Browne  then  went  to 
Norwich,  preaching  there  and  at  Bury  St.  Ed- 
munds, both  of  which  had  been  gathering-places 
for  the  Separatists.  At  Norwich,  he  organized  a 
church.  Writing  of  Browne's  labors  there  in 
1580  and  1581,  Dr.  Dexter  says:  "  Here,  fol- 
lowing the  track  which  he  had  been  long  elabo- 
rating, he  thoroughly  discovered  and  restated 


LIBERTY  IN   CONNECTICUT  9 

the  original  Congregational  way  in  all  its  sim- 
plicity and  symmetry.    And  here,  by  his  prompt- 
ing and  under  his  guidance,  was  formed  the  first 
church  in  modern  days   of  which  I  have  any 
knowledge,  which  was  intelligently  and  one  might 
say  philosophically  Congregational  in  its  platform 
and  processes ;  he  becoming  its  pastor." 3   Per- 
secution followed  Browne   to  Norwich,  and   in 
order  to  escape  it  he,  in  1581,  migrated  with  his 
church  to  Middelburg,  in  Zealand.    There,  for 
two  years,  he  devoted  himself   to   authorship, 
wherein  he  set  forth  his  teachings.    His  books 
and  pamphlets,  which  had  been   proscribed  in 
England,  were  printed  in  Middelburg  and  se- 
cretly distributed  by  his  friends  and  followers  at 
home.   But  Browne's  temperament  was  not  of  the 
kind  to  hold  and  mould  men  together,  while  his 
doctrine  of  equality  in  church  government  was 
too  strong  food  for  people  who,  for  generations, 
had  been  subservient  to  a  system  that  demanded 
only  their  obedience.    His  church  soon  disinte- 
grated.   With  but  a  remnant  of  his  following,  he 
returned  in  1583  by  way  of  Scotland  into  Eng- 
land, finding  everywhere  the  strong  hand  of  the 
government  stretched  out  in  persecution.    Three 
years  later,  after  having  been  imprisoned  in  noi- 
some cells  some  thirty  times  within   six  years, 
utterly  broken  in  health,  if  not  weakened  also  in 


10      THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  RELIGIOUS 

mind,  and  never  feeling  safe  from  arrest  while 
in  his  own  land,  Browne  finally  sought  pardon 
for  his  offensive  teachings  and,  obtaining  it,  re- 
entered the  English  communion.  y hough  he  was 
given  a  small  parish,  he  was  looked  upon  as  a 
renegade,  and  died  in  poverty  about  1631,  at 
an  extreme  old  age.  He  died  while  the  Pil- 
grim Separatists  were  still  a  struggling  colony  at 
Plymouth,  repudiating  the  name  of  Brownists ; 
before  the  colonial  churches  had  embodied  in  their 
system  most  of  the  fundamentals  of  his  ;  and  long 
before  the  value  of  his  teachings  as  to  democracy, 
whether  in  the  church  or  by  extension  in  the  state, 
had  dawned  upon  mankind. 

The  connecting  link  between  Brownism  and 
Barrowism,  whose  similarities  and  dissimilarities 
we  shall  consider  together,  or  rather  the  connect- 
ing link  between  Robert  Browne  and  Henry 
Barrowe,  was  another  Cambridge  student,  John 
Greenwood.  He  was  graduated  in  1581,  the  year 
that  Browne  removed  to  Middelburg.  Greenwood 
had  become  so  enamored  with  Separatist  doc- 
trines, that  within  five  years  of  his  graduation  he 
was  deprived  of  his  benefice,  in  1586,  and  sent 
to  prison.  While  there,  he  was  visited  by  his 
friend,  Henry  Barrowe,  a  young  London  lawj^er, 
who,  through  the  chance  words  of  a  London 
preacher,  had  been  converted  from  a  wild,  gay 


LIBERTY   IN   CONNECTICUT  11 

life  to  one  devout  and  godly.  During  a  visit  to 
Greenwood,  Barrowe  was  arrested  and  sent  to 
Lambeth  Palace  for  examination.  Upon  refusing 
to  take  the  oath  required  by  the  bishop,  Barrowe 
was  remanded  to  prison  to  await  further  exam- 
ination. Later,  he  damaged  himself  and  his  cause 
by  an  unnecessarily  bitter  denunciation  of  his 
enemies  and  by  a  too  dogmatic  assertion  of  his 
own  principles.  Accordingly,  he  was  sent  back 
to  prison,  where,  together  with  Greenwood,  he 
awaited  trial  until  March,  1593.  Then,  upon  the 
distorted  testimony  of  their  writings,  both  men 
were  sentenced  as  seditious  fellows,  worthy  of 
death.  Though  twice  reprieved  at  the  seemingly 
last  hour,  they  were  hanged  together  on  April  6, 
1593. 

Both  Greenwood  and  Barrowe  frequently  as- 
serted that  they  never  had  anything  to  do  with 
Browne.4  Yet  it  is  probable  that  it  was  Browne's 
influence  which  turned  Greenwood's  puritanical 
convictions  to  Separatist  principles.  Barrowe  had 
been  graduated  from  Clare  Hall,  Cambridge,  in 
1569-70;  Browne,  from  Corpus  Christi  in  1572. 
The  two  men,  so  different  in  character,  probably 
did  not  meet  in  university  days,  and  certainly 
not  later  in  London,  where  one  went  to  a  life  of 
pleasure  and  the  other  to  teaching  and  to  the 
study  of  the  Scriptures.    Greenwood,  however, 


12      THE   DEVELOPMENT  OF  RELIGIOUS 

had  entered  Cambridge  in  1577-78,  and  left  it 
in  1581.  Thus  he  was  in  college  during  the  two 
years  that  Browne  was  preaching  in  and  near 
Cambridge.  It  is  safe  to  assume  that  the  young 
scholar,  soon  to  become  a  licensed  preacher,  and 
overflowing  with  the  Puritan  zeal  of  his  college, 
might  be  drawn  either  through  curiosity  or  ad- 
miration to  hear  the  erratic  and  almost  fanatic 
preacher.  Later,  when  Browne's  writings  were 
being  secretly  distributed  in  England,  both 
Barrowe  and  Greenwood  had  come  in  contact 
with  the  London  congregations  to  whom  Browne 
had  preached.  The  fact  that  many  men  in  Eng- 
land were  thinking  along  the  same  lines  as  the 
Separatists ;  that  Browne  had  recanted  just  as 
Barrowe  and  Greenwood  were  thrust  into  prison ; 
and  that  they  both  disapproved  in  some  measure 
of  Browne's  teachings,  might  account  for  a  denial 
of  discipleship.  Browne's  influence  might  even 
have  been  unrecognized  by  the  men  themselves. 
Be  that  as  it  may,  during  their  long  imprison- 
ment, both  Barrowe  and  Greenwood,  in  their 
teachings,  in  their  public  conferences,  and  in  their 
writings  strove  to  outline  a  system  of  church  gov- 
ernment and  discipline,  which  was  very  similar  to 
and  yet  essentially  different  from  Browne's. 

Thus  it  happened  that  in  the  last  decade  of  the 
sixteenth  century  two  forms  of  Congregational- 


LIBERTY  IN   CONNECTICUT  13 

ism  had  developed,  Brownism  and  Barrowism. 
Neither  Browne  nor  Barrowe  felt  any  need,  as  did 
their  later  followers,  to  demonstrate  their  doc- 
trinal soundness,  because  in  all  matters  of  creed 
they  "  were  in  full  doctrinal  sympathy  with  the 
predominantly  Calvinistic  views  of  the  English 
Established  Church  from  which  they  had  come 
out." 

"  Browne,  first  of  all  English  writers,  set  forth 
the  Anabaptist  doctrine  that  the  civil  ruler  had 
no  control  over  the  spiritual  affairs  of  the  church 
and  that  State  and  Church  were  separate  realms."5 
In  the  beginning,  Browne's  foremost  wish  was  not 
to  establish  a  new  church  system  or  polity,  but  to 
encourage  the  spiritual  life  of  the  believer.  To 
this  end  he  desired  separation  from  the  English 
church,  which,  like  all  other  state  churches,  in- 
cluded all  baptized  persons,  not  excommunicate, 
whether  faithful  or  not  to  their  baptismal  or  con- 
firmation vows  to  lead  godly  lives.6  Moreover,  as 
Browne  did  not  believe  that  the  magistrates  should 
have  power  to  coerce  men's  consciences,  teaching, 
as  he  did,  that  the  mingling  of  church  offices  and 
civil  offices  was  anti-Christian,7  he  was  unwilling 
to  wait  for  a  reformation  to  be  brought  about 
by  the  changing  laws  of  the  state.8  He  further 
advocated  such  equality  of  power9  among  the 
members  of  the  church  that  in  its  government  a 


14      THE   DEVELOPMENT  OF  RELIGIOUS 

democracy  resulted,  and  this  theory,  pushed  to  a 
logical  conclusion,  implied  that  a  democratic  form 
of  civil  government  was  also  the  best.a  Browne 
roughly  draughted  a  government  for  the  church 
with  pastors,  teachers,  elders,  deacons,  and  wid- 
ows. He  insisted,  however,  that  these  officers  did 
not  stand  between  Christ  and  the  ordinary  be- 
liever, "though  they  haue  the  grace  and  office  of 
teaching  and  guiding.  .  .  .  Because  eurie  one  of 
the  church  is  made  Kinge,  and  Priest  and  a 
Prophet,  under  Christ,  to  vpholde  and  further 
the  kingdom  of  God." 

Browne  and  Barrowe  both  made  the  Bible  their 
guide  in  all  matters  of  church  life.  From  its  text 
they  deduced  the  definition  of  a  true  church  as, 
"  A  company  of  faithful  people  gathered  by  the 

a  "  Browne's  polity  was  essentially,  though  unintentionally, 
democratic,  and  that  gives  it  a  closer  resemblance  in  some  fea- 
tures to  the  purely  democratic  Congregationalism  of  the  present 
century,  than  to  the  more  aristocratic,  one  might  almost  say 
semi-Presbyterianized,  Congregationalism  of  Barrowe  and  the 
founders  of  New  England.  His  picture  of  the  covenant  relation 
of  men  in  the  church,  under  the  immediate  sovereignty  of  God, 
he  extended  to  the  state  ;  and  it  led  him  as  directly,  and  prob- 
ably as  unintentionally,  to  democracy  in  the  one  field  as  in  the 
other.  His  theory  implied  that  all  governors  should  ride  by 
the  will  of  the  governed,  and  made  the  basis  of  the  state  on  its 
human  side  essentially  a  compact."  —  W.  Walker,  Creeds  and 
Platforms,  pp.  15, 16.  See  also  H.  M.  Dexter,  Congregationalism 
as  seen  in  Lit.,  pp.  96-107  ;  235-39 ;  351 ;  R.  Browne,  Book 
which  Sheweth,  Def.,  51. 


LIBERTY  IN  CONNECTICUT  15 

Word  unto  Christ  and  submitting  themselves  in 
all  things ;  "  of  a  Christian,  as  one  who  had  made 
a  "  willing  covenant  with  God,  and  thereby  did 
live  a  godly  and  Christian  life."  10  This  cove- 
nanting together  of  Christians  constituted  a 
church.  From  their  interpretation  of  the  New  Tes- 
tament, Browne  and  Barrowe  held  that  this  cov- 
enanting included  repentance  for  sin,  a  profession 
of  faith,  and  a  promise  of  obedience.  Moreover, 
to  their  minds,  primitive  Christianity  had  insisted 
upon  a  public,  personal  narration  of  each  covenan- 
ter's regenerative  experience.  From  sacred  writ 
they  derived  their  church  organization  also.11 
Their  pastors  were  for  exhorting  or  "  edifying  by 
all  comfortable  words  and  promises  in  the  Scrip- 
tures, to  work  in  our  hearts  the  estimate  of  our 
duties  with  love  and  zeal  thereunto."  Their  teach- 
ers were  for  teaching  or  "delivering  the  grounds 
of  Religion  and  meaning  of  the  Scriptures  and 
confirming  the  same."  Both  officers  were  to  ad- 
minister baptism  and  the  Lord's  supper,  or  "  the 
Seals  of  the  Covenant."  The  elders  included 
both  pastors  and  teachers  and  also  "  Ruling  Eld- 
ers," all  of  whom  were  for  "  oversight,  counsel, 
and  redressing  things  amiss,"  but  the  ruling  elders 
were  to  give  special  attention  to  the  public  order 
and  government  of  the  church .  According  to  both 
Browne  and  Barrowe,  these  officers  were  to  be 


1G      THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  RELIGIOUS 

the  mouthpiece  of  the  church  in  the  admission, 
censure,  dismissal,  or  readmission  of  members. 
They  were  to  prepare  matters  to  be  brought  be- 
fore the  church  for  action.  They  were  also  to 
adjust  matters,  when  possible,  so  as  to  avoid 
overburdening  the  church  or  its  pastor  and 
teacher  with  trivial  business.  In  matters  spiritual, 
they  were  to  unite  with  the  pastor  and  teacher 
in  keeping  watch  over  the  lives  of  the  people,  that 
they  be  of  good  character  and  godly  reputation. 
Browne  taught  that  the  church  had  power 
which  it  shared  wdth  its  officers  as  fellow-Chris- 
tians, but  which  lifted  it  above  them  and  their 
office.  It  lay  with  the  church  to  elect  them.  It 
lay  with  the  church  to  censure  them.  Barrowe 
also  maintained  that  the  church  was  "  above  its 
institutions,  above  its  officers,"  12  and  that  every 
officer  was  responsible  to  the  church  and  liable 
to  its  censure  as  well  as  indebted  to  it  for  his 
election  and  office.  But  he  further  maintained 
that  the  members  of  the  church  should  render 
meek  and  submissive,  faithful  and  loving  obedi- 
ence to  their  chosen  elders.  Barrowe  thus  taught 
that  guidance  in  religious  matters  should  be  left 
in  the  hands  of  those  to  whom  by  election  it  had 
been  delegated.  The  elders  were  to  be  men  of 
discernment,  able  to  judge  "  between  cause  and 
cause,  plea  and  plea,"  to  redress  evil,  and  to  see 


LIBERTY  IN  CONNECTICUT  17 

that  both  the  people  and  their  officers  a  did  their 
full  duty  in  accordance  with  the  laws  of  God  and 
the  ordinances  of  the  church.  Barrowe  had  seen 
the  confusion  and  disintegration  of  Browne's 
church,  and  he  planned  by  thus  introducing  the 
Calvinistic  theory  of  eldership  to  avoid  the  pit- 
falls into  which  the  Brownists  had  plunged  while 
practicing  their  new-found  principle  of  religious 
equality.  Barrowe  hoped  by  his  system  to  secure 
the  independence  of  the  local  churches  and  also 
to  avoid  the  repellent  attitude  of  a  nation  that 
was  as  yet  unprepared  to  welcome  any  trend  to- 
wards democracy. b    Having  devised  this  system 

a  Barrowe  wrote,  "  Though  there  be  communion  in  the 
Church,  yet  is  there  no  equality."  This  is  in  strong-  contrast  to 
Browne's,  "  Every  one  of  the  church  is  made  King-  and  Priest 
and  Prophet  under  Christ  to  uphold  and  further  the  kingdom 
of  God."  Barrowe  continues,  "  The  Church  of  Christ  is  to 
obey  and  submit  unto  her  leaders.  .  .  .  The  Church  knoweth 
how  to  give  reverence  unto  her  leaders."  In  his  True  Descrip- 
tion there  is  a  hazy  attempt  to  define  how  far  the  membership 
of  the  church  may  judge  its  elders.  This  authority  of  the 
elders  was  defined  more  clearly  and  elaborated  by  Barrowe's 
followers  in  their  True  Confession,  published  in  Amsterdam 
in  1596-98.  —  H.  Barrowe,  A  True  Description ;  Discovery 
of  False  Churches,  p.  188 ;  A  Plain  Refutation  of  Mr.  Gifford, 
p.  129  (ed.  of  1605). 

6  "Traces  of  this  (Barrowe's)  innovation  on  apostolic  Con- 
gregationalism have  been  aptly  characterized  as  a  Presbyterian 
heart  within  a  Congregational  body,  and  are  seen  long  after  the 
denomination  grew  to  be  a  power  in  New  England."  —  A.  E. 
Dunning,  Congregationalists  in  America,  p.  61. 


18      THE   DEVELOPMENT  OF  RELIGIOUS 

of  compromise,  Barrowe  made  a  futile  attempt  to 
interest  Cartwright,  but  the  latter  regarded  the 
reformer  as  too  heretical.    Yet  Cartwrio-ht  him- 

o 

self,  tired  of  waiting  for  the  better  day  when  his 
desired  reforms  should  be  brought  about  through 
the  operation  of  Parliamentary  laws,  was  attempt- 
ing in  Warwickshire  and  Northamptonshire  to 
test  his  system  of  Presbyterianism. 

To  the  list  of  church  officers  already  enumer- 
ated, both  reformers  added  deacons  and  widows. 
The  deacons  were  to  attend  to  the  church  finances 
and  all  temporal  cares,  and,  in  their  visiting  of 
the  sick  and  afflicted,  they  were  to  be  aided  by 
the  widows.  The  latter  office,  however,  soon  fell 
into  disuse,  for  it  was  difficult  to  find  women  of 
satisfactory  character,  attainments,  and  physical 
ability,  since,  in  order  to  avoid  scandal  or  cen- 
soriousness,  those  filling  the  office  had  to  be  of 
advanced  years." 

With  respect  to  the  relation  of  the  churches 
among  themselves,  Browne  and  Barrowe  each 
insisted  upon  the  integral  independence  and  self- 
governing  powers  of  the  local  units.  Both  ap- 
proved of  the  "  sisterly  advice  "  of  neighboring 
churches  in  matters  of  mutual  interest.  Both  held 
that  in  matters  of  great  weight,  synods,  or  coun- 
cils of  all  the   churches  should  be  summoned ; 

n  Barrowe  says,  "over  sixty." 


LIBERTY  IN  CONNECTICUT  19 

that  the  delegates  to  such  bodies  should  advise 
and  bring  the  wisdom  of  their  united  experience 
to  questions  affecting  the  welfare  of  all  the 
churches,  and  also,  when  in  consultation  upon 
serious  cases,  that  any  one  church  should  lay- 
before  them.  Browne  insisted  that  delegates 
to  synods  should  be  both  ministerial  and  lay, 
while  Barrowe  leaned  to  the  conviction  that 
they  should  be  chosen  only  from  among  the 
church  officers.  Both  reformers  limited  the  power 
of  synods,  maintaining  that  they  should  be  con- 
sultative and  advisory  only.13  Their  decisions 
were  not  to  be  binding  upon  the  churches  as  were 
those  of  the  Presbyterian  synods,"  whose  author- 
ity both  reformers  regarded  as  a  violation  of 
Gospel  rule.  The  church  system,  outlined  by  these 
two  men,  became,  in  time,  the  organization  of  the 
churches  of  Plymouth,  Massachusetts,  Connecti- 
cut, and  New  Haven.  The  character  of  their 
polity  fluctuated,  as  we  shall  see,  leaning  some- 
times more  to  Barrowism  and  sometimes,  or  in 
some  respects,  emphasizing  the  greater  democracy 
which  Browne  taught.  In  England,  and  because 
of  the  pressure  of  circumstances  among  English 

a  The  first  English  Presbytery  was  organized  in  1572. 
Among-  its  organizers,  there  was  the  seeming  determination 
to  treat  the  Episcopal  system  as  a  mere  legal  appendage.  — 
F.  J.  Powicke,  Henry  Barrowe,  p.  139. 


20      THE   DEVELOPMENT  OF  RELIGIOUS 

exiles  and  colonists,  Barrowe's  teachings  at  first 
gained  the  stronger  hold  and  kept  it  for  many- 
years.  Moreover,  as  Barrowe's  almost  immediate 
followers  embraced  them,  there  was  no  objection 
to  the  customary  union  of  church  and  state.  And 
furthermore,  if  only  the  state  would  uphold  this 
peculiar  polity,  it  might  even  insist  upon  the  pay- 
ment of  contributions,  which  both  Browne  and 
Barrowe  had  distinctly  stated  were  to  be  voluntary 
and  were  to  be  the  only  support  of  their  churches. 
Though  Barrowism  was  more  welcomed,  eventu- 
ally—  yet  not  until  long  after  the  colonial  period 
—  Brownism  triumphed,  and  it  predominates  in 
the  Congregationalism  of  to-day. 

The  immediate  spread  of  Barrowism  was  due 
to  the  poor  Separatists  of  London.  Doubtless 
among  them  were  many  who  in  the  preceding 
years  had  listened  to  Browne  and  had  begun  to 
look  up  to  him  as  their  Luther.  While  Barrowe 
and  Greenwood  were  in  prison,  many  of  these 
Separatists  had  gone  to  hear  them  preach  and 
had  studied  their  writings.  During  the  autumn 
of  1592,  there  had  been  some  relaxation  in  the 
severity  exercised  toward  the  prisoners,  and 
Greenwood  was  allowed  occasionally  to  be  out  of 
jail  under  bail.  He  associated  himself  with  these 
Separatists,  who,  according  to  Dr.  Dexter,  had 
organized  a  church  about  five  years  before,  and 


LIBERTY  IN  CONNECTICUT  21 

who  at  once  elected  Greenwood  to  the  office  of 
teacher.  Dr.  John  Brown,  writing  later  than  Dr. 
Dexter,  claims  this  London  church  as  the  parent 
of  English  Congregationalism.  To  make  good 
the  claim,  he  traces  the  history  of  the  church  by 
means  of  references  in  Bradford's  History,  Fox's 
"  Book  of  Martyrs,"  and  in  recently  discovered 
state  papers  to  its  existence  as  a  Separate  church 
under  Elizabeth,  when,  as  early  as  1571,  its  pas- 
tor, Richard  Fitz,  had  died  in  prison.  Dr.  Brown 
believes  he  can  still  farther  trace  its  origin  to 
Queen  Mary's  reign,  when  a  Mr.  Rough,  its  pas- 
tor, suffered  martyrdom,  and  one  Cuthbert  Symp- 
son  was  deacon.14  After  the  death  of  Greenwood 
and  Barrowe,  this  London  congregation  was  sore 
pressed.  Their  pastor,  Francis  Johnson,  havmg 
been  thrown  into  prison,  they  began  to  make 
their  way  secretly  to  Amsterdam.  There  John- 
son joined  them  in  1597,  soon  after  his  release. 
To  this  London- Amsterdam  church  were  gath- 
ered Separatist  exiles  from  all  parts  of  England, 
for  converts  were  increasing,"  especially  in  the 
rural  districts  of  the  north,  notwithstanding  the 

a  At  the  height  of  its  prosperity  this  church  contained  about 
three  hundred  communicants,  with  representatives  from  twenty- 
nine  English  counties.  Among  them  was  one  John  Bolton,  who 
had  been  a  member  of  Mr.  Fitz's  church  in  1571.  At  the  be- 
ginning of  James  the  First's  reign,  1603,  Separatist  converts 
numbered  20,000  souls  in  England. 


22      THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  RELIGIOUS 

fact  that  persecution  followed  hard  upon  conver- 
sion. 

The  policy  of  Elizabeth  during  the  earlier 
years  of  her  reign  was  one  of  forbearance  towards 
inoffensive  Catholics  and  of  toleration  towards 
all  Protestants.  Caring  nothing  for  religion  as 
such,  her  aim  was  to  secure  peace  and  to  increase 
the  stability  of  her  realm.  This  she  did  by  crush- 
ing malcontent  Catholics,  by  balancing  the  fac- 
tions of  Protestantism,  and  by  holding  in  check 
the  extremists,  whether  High-Churchmen  or  the 
ultra-Puritan  followers  of  Cartwright.  She  had 
forced  on  the  contending  factions  a  sort  of  armed 
truce  and  silenced  the  violent  antagonism  of  pul- 
pit against  pulpit  by  licensing  preachers.  The 
Acts  of  Supremacy  and  of  Uniformity  placed  all 
ecclesiastical  jurisdiction,  as  well  as  all  legislative 
power,  in  the  hands  of  the  state.  They  outlined 
a  system  of  church  doctrine  and  discipline  from 
which  no  variation  was  legally  permitted.  Not- 
withstanding the  enforced  outward  conformity, 
the  Bible  was  left  open  to  the  masses  to  study, 
and  private  discussion  and  polemic  writing  were 
unrestrained.  The  main  principles  of  the  Refor- 
mation were  accepted,  even  while  Elizabeth  re- 
sisted the  sweeping  reforms  which  the  strong 
Calvinistic  faction  of  the  Puritan  party  would 
have    made  in  the  ceremonial  of   the  English 


LIBERTY  IN   CONNECTICUT  23 

church.  This  she  did  notwithstanding  the  fact 
that  about  the  time  Thomas  Cartwright,  through 
the  influence  of  the  ritualists  under  Whitdft, 
had  been  driven  from  Cambridge,  Parliament 
had  refused  to  bind  the  clergy  to  the  Three  Ar- 
ticles on  Supremacy,  on  the  form  of  Church  gov- 
ernment, and  on  the  power  of  the  Church  to  ordain 
rites  and  ceremonies.    Parliament  had  even  sup-- 

o 

gested  a  reform  of  the  liturgy  by  omitting  from 
it  those  ceremonies  most  obnoxious  to  the  Puritan 
party."  That  representative  assembly  had  but 
reflected  the  desire  of  all  moderate  statesmen,  as 
well  as  of  the  Puritans.  But,  in  the  twelve  years 
between  Cartwright's  dismissal  from  Cambridge 
and  Browne's  preaching  there  without  a  license, 
a  great  change  took  place,  altering  the  sentiment 
of  the  nation.  All  but  extremists  drew  back  when 
Cartwright  pushed  his  Presbyterian  notions  to 
the  point  of  asserting  that  the  only  power  which 
the  state  rightfully  held  over  religion  was  to  see. 
that  the  decrees  of  the  churches  were  executed 

a  "  The  wish  for  a  reform  in  the  Liturgy,  the  dislike  of 
superstitious  usages,  of  the  use  of  the  surplice,  the  sign  of  the 
cross  in  baptism,  the  gift  of  the  ring  in  marriage,  the  posture 
of  kneeling  at  the  Lord's  Supper,  was  shared  by  a  large  num- 
ber of  the  clergy  and  laity  alike.  At  the  opening  of  Elizabeth's 
reign  almost  all  the  higher  churchmen  but  Parker  were  op- 
posed to  them,  and  a  motion  for  their  abolition  in  Convocation 
was  lost  but  by  a  single  vote."  —  J.  R.  Green,  Short  History  of 
the  English  People,  p.  459. 


24      THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  RELIGIOUS 

and  their  contemners  punished,  or  when  this  re- 
former still  further  asserted  that  the  power  and 
authority  of  the  church  was  derived  from  the 
Gospel  and  consequently  was  above  Queen  or 
Parliament.  Cartwright  claimed  for  his  church 
an  infallibility  and  control  of  its  members  far 
above  the  claims  of  Rome,  and,  tired  of  waiting 
for  a  purification  of  existing  conditions  by  legis- 
lative acts,  he  had,  as  has  been  said,  boldly  organ- 
ized, in  accordance  with  his  system,  the  clergy  of 
Warwickshire  and  Northamptonshire.  The  local 
churches  were  treated  as  self-governing  units,  but 
were  controlled  by  a  series  of  authoritative  Classes 
and  Synods.  Having  done  this,  Cartwright  called 
for  the  establishment  of  Presbyterianism  as  the 
national  church  and  for  the  vigorous  suppression 
of  Episcopacy,  Separatism,  and  all  variations 
from  his  standard.  As  he  thus  struck  at  the 
national  church,  at  the  Queen's  supremacy,  and, 
seemingly  to  many  Englishmen,  at  the  very  roots 
of  civil  government  and  security,  there  was  a 
sudden  halt  in  the  reform  movement.  The  im- 
petus which  would  have  probably  brought  about 
all  the  changes  that  the  great  body  of  Puritans 
desired  was  arrested.  Richard  Hooker's  "  Eccle- 
siastical Polity "  swept  the  ground  from  under 
Thomas  Cartwright's  "  Admonition  to  Parlia- 
ment." Hooker's  broad  and  philosophic  reasoning 


LIBERTY   IN   CONNECTICUT  25 

showed  that  no  one  system  of  church-government 
was  immutable;  that  all  were  temporary;  and  that 
not  upon  any  man's  interpretation  of  Scripture, 
or  upon  that  of  any  group  of  men  alone,  could 
the  diVine  ordering  of  the  world,  of  the  church 
or  of  the  state,  be  based.  Such  order  depended 
upon  moral  relations,  upon  social  and  political  in- 
stitutions, and  changed  with  times  and  nations. 
The  death  of  Mary  Queen  of  Scots  crushed 
the  Catholic  party,  and  the  defeat  of  the  Armada 
left  Elizabeth  free  to  turn  her  attention  to  the 
phases  of  the  Protestant  movement  in  her  own 
realm.  While  Browne  was  preaching  in  Norwich, 
the  Queen  raised  Whitgift  to  the  See  of  Canter- 
bury. He  was  the  bitter  opponent  of  all  noncon- 
formity, and  immediately  the  persecution  both  of 
Separatists  and  of  Puritans  became  severe.  Eliza- 
beth, sure  at  last  of  her  throne  and  of  her  posi- 
tion as  head  of  the  Protestant  cause  in  Europe, 
gave  her  minister  a  free  hand.  She  demanded 
rigid  conformity,  but  wisely  forbore  to  revive 
many  of  the  customs  which  the  Puritans  had  suc- 
ceeded in  rendering  obsolete.  Noth withstanding 
such  modifications,  the  English  liturgy  had  been 
so  slightly  altered  that,  "  Pius  the  Fifth  did  see 
so  little  variation  in  it  from  the  Latin  service 
that  had  been  formerly  used  in  that  Kingdom 
that  he  would  have  ratified  it  by  his  authority,  if 


26      THE   DEVELOPMENT  OF  RELIGIOUS 

the  Queen  would  have  so  received  it."  a  Eliza- 
beth now  forbade  all  preaching,  teaching,  and 
catechising  in  private  houses,  and  refused  to  re- 
cognize lay  or  Presbyterian  ordination.  Minis- 
ters who  could  no  longer  accept  episcopal  ordina- 
tion, or  subscribe  to  the  Thirty-nine  Articles,  or 
approve  the  Book  of  Common  Prayer  and  con- 
form to  its  liturgy  were  silenced  and  deprived  of 
their  salaries.  In  default  of  witnesses,  charges 
against  them  were  proved  by  their  own  testimony 
under  oath,  whereby  they  were  made  to  incrim- 
inate themselves.  The  censorship  of  the  press  was 
made  stringent,  printing  was  restricted  to  Lon- 
don and  to  the  two  universities,  and  all  printers 
had  to  be  licensed.  Furthermore,  all  publications, 
even  pamphlets,  had  to  receive  the  approval  of 
the  Primate  or  of  the  Bishop  of  London.  In 
addition,  the  Queen  established  the  Ecclesiastical 
Commission  of  forty-four  members,  which  became 
a  permanent  court  where  all  authority  virtually 
centred  in  the  hands  of  the  archbishops.  Eng- 
lish law  had  not  as  yet  defined  the  powers  and 
limitations  of  the  Protestant  clergy.  Conse- 
quently, this  Commission  assumed  almost  un- 
limited powers  and  cared  little  for  its  own  prece- 
dents.   Its  very  existence  undid  a  large  part  of 

a  John  Davenport,  in  his  Answer  to  the  Letter  of  Many  Minis- 
ters in  Old  Enylandy  p.  3. 


LIBERTY   IN  CONNECTICUT  27 

the  work  of  the  Reformation,  and  the  successive 
Archbishops  of  Canterbury,  Parker,  Whitgift, 
Bancroft,  Abbott,  and  Laud,  claimed  greater  and 
more  despotic  authority  than  any  papal  primate 
since  the  days  of  Augustine.  The  Commission 
passed  upon  all  opinions  or  acts  which  it  held  to 
be  contrary  to  the  Acts  of  Supremacy  and  Uni- 
formity. It  altered  or  amended  the  Statutes  of 
Schools  and  Colleges  ;  it  claimed  the  right  of 
deprivation  of  clergy  and  held  them  at  its  mercy  ; 
it  passed  from  decisions  upon  heresy,  schism,  or 
nonconformity  to  judgment  and  sentence  upon 
incest  and  similar  crimes.  It  could  fine  and  im- 
prison at  will,  and  employ  any  measures  for 
securing  information  or  calling  witnesses.  The 
result  was  that  all  nonconformists  and  all  Puri- 
tans drew  closer  together  under  trial.  Another 
result  was  that  the  Bible  was  studied  more  ear- 
nestly in  private,  and  that  there  was  a  public 
eager  to  read  the  religious  books  and  pamphlets 
published  abroad  and  cautiously  circulated  in 
England.  Though  the  Presbyterians  were  con- 
fined to  the  nonconformist  clergy  and  to  a  com- 
paratively small  number  among  them,  they  were 
rising  in  importance,  and  were  accorded  sym- 
pathetic recognition  as  a  section  of  the  Puri- 
tan party.  This  party,  as  a  whole,  continued  to 
increase  its  membership.     The  Separatists  also 


28      THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  RELIGIOUS 

increased,  for,  as  of  old,  the  blood  of  the  martyrs 
became  the  seed  of  the  church. 

The  hope  that  times  would  mend  when  James 
ascended  the  throne  was  soon  abandoned.  As 
he  had  been  trained  in  Scotch  Presbyterianism, 
the  Presbyterians  believed  that  he  would  grant 
them  some  favor,  while  the  Puritans  looked  for 
some  conciliatory  measures.  Eight  hundred  Puri- 
tan ministers,  a  tenth  of  all  the  clergy,  signed 
the  "  Millenary  Petition,"  asking  that  the  prac- 
tices which  they  most  abhorred,  such  as  the  sign 
of  the  cross  in  baptism,  the  use  of  the  surplice, 
the  giving  of  the  ring  at  marriage,  and  the  kneel- 
ing during  the  communion  service,  should  be  done 
away  with.  The  petition  was  not  Presbyterian, 
but  was  strictly  Puritan  in  tone.  It  asked  for  no 
change  in  the  government  or  organization  of  the 
church.  It  did  ask  for  a  reform  in  the  ecclesi- 
astical courts,  and  it  demanded  provision  for  the 
training  of  godly  ministers.  James  replied  to  the 
petition  by  promising  a  conference  of  prelates 
and  of  Puritan  ministers  to  consider  their  de- 
mands ;  but  at  the  conference  it  was  found  that 
he  had  summoned  it  only  to  air  the  theological 
knowledge  upon  which  he  so  greatly  prided  him- 
self. His  answer  to  the  petition  was  that  he  would 
have  "one  doctrine,  one  religion,  in  substance 
and  in  ceremony,"  and  of  the  remonstrants  he 


LIBERTY  IN  CONNECTICUT  29 

added,  "I  will  make  them  conform  or  I  will 
harry  them  out  of  the  land."  The  harrying  be- 
gan. The  recently  organized  Separatist  church  at 
Gainsborough-on-Trent  endured  persecution  for 
four  years,  and  then  emigrated  with  its  pastor, 
John  Smyth,  M.A.,  of  Christ's  College,  Cam- 
bridge. It  found  refuge  in  Amsterdam  by  the 
side  of  the  London- Amsterdam  church  and  its 
pastor,  Francis  Johnson,  who  had  been  Smyth's 
tutor  in  college  days.  The  next  year,  after  more 
of  the  King's  harrying,  the  future  colonists  of 
Plymouth,  the  Separatist  Church  of  Scrooby,  an 
offshoot  of  the  Gainsborough  church,  attempted 
to  flee  over  seas  to  Holland.  The  magistrates 
would  not  give  them  leave  to  go,  and  to  emigrate 
without  permission  had  been  counted  a  crime 
since  the  reign  of  Richard  II.  Their  first  attempt 
to  leave  the  country  was  defeated  and  their  lead- 
ers imprisoned.  During  their  second  attempt, 
after  a  large  number  of  their  men  had  reached 
the  ship  with  many  of  their  household  goods,  and 
while  their  wives  and  children  were  waiting  to 
embark,  those  on  the  beach  were  surprised  and 
arrested,  and  their  goods  confiscated.  Public  opin- 
ion forbade  sending  helpless  women  and  children 
to  prison  for  no  other  offense  than  agreeing  with 
and  wishing  to  join  their  husbands  and  fathers. 
Consequently  the  magistrates  let  their  prisoners 


30      THE   DEVELOPMENT  OF  RELIGIOUS 

go,  but  made  no  provision  for  them.  Helpless 
and  destitute,  they  were  taken  in  and  cared  for  by 
the  people  of  the  countryside,  and  sheltered  until 
their  men  returned.  The  latter  had  suffered  ship- 
wreck, because  the  Dutch  captain  had  attempted 
to  sail  away  when  he  saw  the  approach  of  the 
English  officers.  When  the  church  had  once  more 
raised  sufficient  funds  for  the  emigration,  the 
magistrates  gave  them  a  contemptuous  permission 
to  depart,  "glad  to  be  rid  of  them  at  any  price." 
So,  in  1608,  they  also  joined  the  English  exiles 
in  Amsterdam.  The  rank  injustice  and  cruelty 
of  their  treatment,  together  with  their  patience 
and  forbearance  under  their  sufferings,  drew  peo- 
ple's attention  to  the  character  and  worth  of  the 
pious  "  pilgrims  "  and  Separatists  whom  James 
was  constantly  driving  forth  from  England. 

Meanwhile,  both  in  England  and  on  the  con- 
tinent, the  Separatists  held  fast  to  the  principles 
of  their  leaders,  of  which  the  cardinal  ones  were 
a  church  wherein  membership  was  not  by  birth- 
right, but  by  "  conversion  ;  "  over  which  magis- 
trates or  government  should  have  no  control ;  in 
which  each  congregation  constituted  an  independ- 
ent unit,  coequal  with  all  others  ;  and  with 
which  the  state  should  have  nothing  more  to  do 
than  to  see  that  members  respected  the  decrees 
of  the  church  and  were  obedient  to  its  discipline. 


LIBERTY  IN  CONNECTICUT  31 

On  the  continent,  the  Separatists  elaborated 
these  fundamentals  and  developed  detailed  and 
systematic  expression  of  them.  Such  were  the 
"True  Description  out  of  the  Word  of  God  of 
the  Visible  Church  "  of  the  London- Amsterdam 
church,  put  forth  in  1589,  and  in  which  Barrowe 
himself  outlined  his  system ;  the  "  True  Confes- 
sion," issued  by  the  same  church  about  ten  years 
later ;  "  The  Points  of  Difference,"  some  four- 
teen in  number,  in  which  the  London- Amsterdam 
church  set  forth  wherein  it  differed  from  the 
English  church ;  and  the  "  Seven  Articles," 
signed  by  John  Eobinson  and  William  Brewster. 
This  last  document  the  exiled  Scrooby  church 
sent  from  Leyden  to  the  English  Council  of 
State  in  1617,  with  the  hope  of  convincing  King 
James  that  if  allowed  to  go  to  America  under  the 
Virginia  patent,  and  to  worship  there  in  their 
own  fashion,  they  would  be  desirable  colonists 
and  law-abiding  subjects.  The  "True  Confes- 
sion "  a  sets  forth  the  nature,  powers,  order,  and 
officers  of  the  church.  It  limits  the  sacraments 
to  the  members,  and  baptism  to  their  children. 
It  insists  upon  the  wisdom  of  churches  seeking 

a  Its  full  title  is  "  A  True  Confession  of  the  Faith  and 
Humble  Acknowledgement  of  the  Allegeance  which  wee  his 
Majestes  Subjects  falsely  called  Brownists,  doo  hould  towards 
God  and  yeild  his  Majestie  and  all  others  that  are  over  us  in 
the  Lord." 


32      THE   DEVELOPMENT  OF  RELIGIOUS 

advice  from  one  another,  and  of  their  use  of  cer- 
tificates of  membership  so  as  to  guard  against 
the  admission  of  strangers  coining  from  other 
churches,  and  possibly  of  unworthy  character.  In 
the  definition  of  eldership,  the  "  True  Confes- 
sion "  passes  out  of  the  haze  in  which  Barrowe's 
"  True  Description  "  left  the  conflicting  powers 
of  the  eldership,  and  of  the  church.  It  plainly 
asserts  that  the  elders  have  the  power  of  guid- 
ance and  also  of  control,  should  members  attempt 
to  censure  them  or  to  interfere  in  matters  be- 
yond their  knowledge.  This  platform  also  insists 
that  magistrates  should  uphold  the  church  which 
it  defines,  because  it  is  the  one  true  church,  and 
that  they  should  oppose  all  others  as  anti-Chris- 
tian.15 In  the  "  Points  of  Difference,"  stress  is 
again  laid  upon  the  covenant-nature  of  the  church, 
upon  its  voluntary  support,  upon  the  right  of 
election  of  officers,  and  upon  the  abolishment  of 
"  Popish  Canons,  Courts,  Classes,  Customs  or  any 
human  inventions,"  including  the  Popish  liturgy, 
the  Book  of  Common  Prayer,  and  "  all  Monu- 
ments of  Idolatry  in  garments  or  in  other  things, 
and  all  Temples,  Chapels,  etc."  Many  of  the 
Puritans  desired  these  same  changes.  Many 
favored  a  polity  giving  the  local  churches  some 
degree  of  choice  in  the  election  of  their  officers. 
If  the  "  Points  of  Difference  "  aimed  to  lay  bare 


LIBERTY  IN  CONNECTICUT  33 

the  errors  of  Episcopacy  and  of  Presbyterianism 
as  well  as  to  demonstrate  the  superior  merits  of 
the  new  aspirant  for  the  status  of  a  national 
church,  the  "  Seven  Articles  " 16  aimed  to  mini- 
mize differences  in  church  usage  by  omitting 
mention  of  them  when  possible  and  by  emphasiz- 
ing agreement.  The  evident  advance  along  the 
line  of  a  more  authoritative  eldership  had  devel- 
oped out  of  the  experience  of  the  first  two  Eng- 
lish churches  in  Amsterdam.  John  Robinson  and 
his  followers  had  held  more  closely  to  Robert 
Browne's  standard  of  Congregationalism,  for 
Robinson  maintained  that  the  government  of  the 
church  should  be  vested  in  its  membership  rather 
than  in  its  eldership  alone.  In  order  to  main- 
tain this  principle  in  greater  purity,  Robinson 
withdrew  his  fold  from  their  first  resting-place 
in  Amsterdam  to  Leyden.  Richard  Clyfton,  who 
had  been  pastor  of  the  church  in  Scrooby,  re- 
mained in  Amsterdam,  partly  because  he  felt  too 
old  to  migrate  again,  and  partly  because  he  leaned 
to  Francis  Johnson's  more  aristocratic  theories 
of  church  government.  These  divergent  views 
caused  trouble  in  the  Amsterdam  churches,  and 
Robinson  wished  to  be  far  enough  away  to  be  out 
of  the  vortex  of  doctrinal  eddies.  For  eleven 
years  his  people  lived  a  peaceful  and  exemplary 
church  life  in  Leyden,  and  it  was  chiefly  their 


31      THE   DEVELOPMENT  OF  RELIGIOUS 

longing  to  rear  their  children  in  an  English  home 
and  under  English  influences  that  made  them 
anxious  to  emigrate  to  America.  As  the  years 
passed,  Robinson  sympathized  more  with  the 
Barrowistic  standards  of  other  churches  and  came 
also  to  regard  more  leniently  the  English  Estab- 
lished Church  as  one  having  true  religion  under 
corrupt  forms  and  ceremonies,  and  accordingly 
one  with  which  he  could  hold  a  limited  fellow- 
ship. This  was  a  step  in  the  approachment  of 
Separatist  and  Puritan,  and  Robinson  was  a 
most  influential  writer.  Of  necessity,  his  work 
was  largely  controversial,  but  he  wrote  from  the 
standpoint  of  defense,  and  rarely  departed  from 
a  broad  and  kindly  spirit.  In  the  "  Seven  Arti- 
cles "  Robinson  admits  the  royal  supremacy  in 
so  far  as  to  countenance  a  passive  obedience. 
His  teaching  had  the  greatest  influence  in  shap- 
ing the  religious  life  of  the  first  and  second  gen- 
eration of  New  Englanders. 

The  Separatists  who  remained  in  England  de- 
voted themselves  to  the  discussion  of  particu- 
lar topics  rather  than  to  platforms  of  faith  and 
discipline.  Many  of  the  writers  were  men  who, 
like  the  pastors  of  two  of  the  exiled  churches, 
were  at  first  ministers  in  good  standing  in  the 
English  church  ;  but,  later,  had  allowed  their 
Puritan  tendencies  to  outrun  the  bounds  of  that 


LIBERTY  IN  CONNECTICUT  35 

party  and  to  become  convictions  that  the  Bible 
commanded  their  separation  from  the  Establish- 
ment as  witnesses  to  the  corruptions  it  counte- 
nanced. Poring  over  the  Bible  story,  they  had 
become  enamored  with  the  simplicity  of  the  Gos- 
pel age. 

From  the  days  of  Elizabeth,  the  English  na- 
tion became  more  and  more  a  people  of  one  book, 
and  that  book  the  Bible.   As,  deeply  dyed  with 
Calvinism,  they  read  over  and  over  its  sacred 
pages,  they  became  a  serious,  sombre,  purpose- 
ful—  and  almost  fanatic  people.    The  faults  and 
extravagances  of  the  Puritan  party  and  of  the 
later  Commonwealth  do  not  at  this  time  concern 
us.    It  is  with  their  purposefulness,  their  deter- 
mination to  make  the  church  a  home  of  vigorous 
and  visible  righteousness,  and  to  preserve  their 
ecclesiastical    and    civil   liberties  from   the  en- 
croachment of  Stuart  pretensions,  that  we  have 
to  do.    More  and  more,  as  has  been    said,  the 
Puritan  was  coming  to  the  conviction  that  the 
best  way  to  reform  the  church  would  be  to  sub- 
stitute some  restrictive  policy  for  her  all-embra- 
cing membership,  or,  at  least,  to  supplement  it  by 
such  measures  of  local  church  discipline  as  should 
practically  exclude  the  unregenerate  and  the  im- 
moral.   Again,  the  Church  of  England  could  be 
arraigned  as  a  politico-ecclesiastical  institution, 


36      THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  RELIGIOUS 

and  in  the  pages  of  the  Bible,  King  James's 
theory  of  the  divine  right  of  kings  and  bishops 
found  no  support.  It  was  obnoxious  alike  to 
Separatist  and  Puritan,  and  James's  Puritan  sub- 
jects had  the  sympathy  of  more  than  three 
fourths  of  the  squires  and  burgesses  in  the  king's 
first  Parliament  of  1604,  while  the  Separatists 
counted  some  twenty  thousand  converts  in  his 
realm.  The  Puritan  opposition  was  a  formidable 
one  to  provoke.  Yet  "  the  wisest  fool  in  Christ- 
endom "  jeered  at  its  clergy  and  scolded  its  re- 
presentatives in  Parliament  for  daring  to  warn 
him,  in  their  reply  to  his  boasted  divine  right  of 
kings,  that 

Your  majesty  would  be  misinformed  if  any  man 
should  deliver  that  the  Kings  of  England  have  any 
absolute  power  in  themselves  either  to  alter  religion, 
or  to  make  any  laws  concerning  the  same,  other- 
wise than  as  in  temporal  causes,  by  consent  of  Parlia- 
ment. 

It  was  the  extravagant  claims  for  himself  and 
his  bishops,  coupled  with  his  lawless  overriding 
of  justice  and  his  profligate  use  of  the  national 
wealth,  that  undermined  the  king's  throne  and 
prepared  the  downfall  of  the  House  of  Stuart. 
Notwithstanding  the  remonstrance  of  Parlia- 
ment, James's  insistence  upon  his  divine  right, 
by  very  force  of  reiteration,  whether  his  own  or 


LIBERTY  IN   CONNECTICUT  37 

that  of  the  clergy  who  favored  royalty,  won  a 
growing  recognition  from  a  conservative  people. 
For  his  king  as  the  political  head  of  the  nation, 
the  Puritan  had  all  the  Englishman's  half-idola- 
trous reverence,  until  James's  own  acts  outraged 
justice  and  substituted  contempt. 

The  self-restraint  for  which  every  Separatist, 
every  Puritan,  strove,  was  characteristic  of  the 
great  reform  party.  They  asked  only  for  eccle- 
siastical betterment,  for  the  reform  of  the  ecclesi- 
astical courts,  for  provision  for  a  godly  ministry, 
and  for  the  suppression  of  "  Popish  usages." 
These  requests  of  the  "  Millenary  Petition"  were, 
after  the  Guy  Fawkes  plot,  urged  with  all  the 
intensity  of  a  people  who,  as  they  looked  abroad 
upon  the  feeble  and  warring  Protestantism  of 
Europe,  and  at  home  upon  the  attempt  to  revive 
Komanism,  believed  themselves  the  sole  hope  and 
savior  of  the  Protestant  cause.  Persecution  had 
created  a  small  measure  of  tolerance  throughout 
all  nonconformist  bodies.  Fear  of  the  revival 
of  Catholicism,  the  renewed  attempt  to  enforce 
the  Three  Articles,  the  dismissal  from  their  par- 
ishes of  three  hundred  Puritan  ministers,  and 
the  hand  and  glove  policy  of  the  king  and  his 
bishops,  welded  together  the  variants  in  the  Puri- 
tan party.  The  desire  for  personal  righteous- 
ness, for  morality  in  church  and  state,  which  had 


38      THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  RELIGIOUS 

seized  upon  the  masses  in  the  nation,  stood  aghast 
at  the  profligacy  of  the  king  and  his  courtiers. 
Reason  seemed  to  cry  aloud  for  reform,  prefer- 
ably for  a  reform  that  should  be  free  from  every 
trace  of  the  old  hypocrisies,  but  which  should  be 
strong  within  the  old  episcopal  system  which 
had  endured  for  centuries  and  which  still  kept 
its  hold  upon  the  vast  majority  of  the  people. 
And  to  this  idea  of  reform  the  great  Puritan 
party  clung,  until  the  exactions  of  the  Stuarts, 
their  suppression  of  both  religious  and  civil 
rights,  forced  upon  it  a  civil  war  and  the  forma- 
tion of  the  Commonwealth.  As  a  preliminary 
training  of  the  men  of  the  Puritan  armies  and 
of  the  Commonwealth,  and  for  their  great  con- 
test, all  the  years  of  Bible  study,  of  controversial 
writing,  of  individual  suffering,  were  needed. 
These  brought  forth  the  necessary  moral  earnest- 
ness, the  mental  acumen,  the  enduring  strength. 
These  qualities,  though  most  noticeable  in  the 
leaders,  were  well-nigh  universal  traits.  Every 
common  soldier  felt  himself  the  equal  of  his 
officer  as  a  soldier  of  God,  a  defender  of  the 
faith,  and  a  necessary  builder  of  Christ's  new 
kingdom  upon  earth.  To  this  growing  sense  of 
democracy,  to  this  sense  of  personal  responsibil- 
ity and  self-sacrifice,  the  teaching,  the  writings, 
and  the  sufferings  of  the  oppressed  Separatists, 


LIBERTY  IN  CONNECTICUT  39 

as  well  as  those  of  the  persecuted  Puritans,  had 
contributed. 

When,  in  1620,  James  I  permitted  the  Pil- 
grims of  Leyden  to  emigrate,  they  planted  in 
Plymouth  of  New  England  the  first  American 
Consreffational  church  and  erected  there  the  first 
American  commonwealth.  The  influence  of  this 
Separatist  church  upon  New  England  religious 
life  belongs  to  another  chapter.  Here  it  is  only 
necessary  to  repeat  that  its  members  differed 
not  at  all  in  creed,  only  in  polity,  from  the  Eng- 
lish established  church  out  of  which  they  had 
originally  come.  With  the  English  Puritan  they 
were  one  in  faith,  while  they  differed  little  from 
him  in  theories  of  church  government,  though 
much  in  practice.  In  America,  the  Plymouth  col- 
onists at  once  set  up  the  same  church  polity  as 
in  Leyden,  one  from  which,  as  has  been  shown, 
many  of  the  English  Puritans  would  have  bor- 
rowed the  features  of  a  converted  or  covenant 
membership  and  of  local  self-government,  or  at 
least  some  measure  of  it.  Eight  years  were  to 
elapse  before  the  great  Puritan  exodus  began. 
In  those  eight  years  both  parties,  thuough  the 
discipline  of  time,  were  to  be  brought  still  nearer 
to  a  common  standard  of  church  life.  When  the 
vanguard  of  the  Puritans  reached  the  Massa- 
chusetts shore,  the  Plymouth  church  stood  ready 


40    RELIGIOUS  LIBERTY  IN  CONNECTICUT 

to  extend  the  right  hand  of  fellowship.  How  it 
did  so,  and  how  it  impressed  itself  upon  the 
church  life  in  the  three  colonies  of  Massachu- 
setts, New  Haven,  and  Connecticut,  is  a  part  of 
the  story  of  the  earliest  period  of  colonial  Con- 
gregationalism. 


CHAPTER  II 

THE   TRANSPLANTING    OF   CONGREGATIONALISM 

Those  who  cross  the  sea  change  not  their  affection  but  their 
skies.  —  Horace. 

The  rule  of  absolutism  forced  the  transplanting 
of  a  democratic  church.  The  arrogance  of  the 
House  of  Stuart  compelled  English  Puritans  to 
seek  refuge  in  America.  The  exercise  of  the 
divine  right  of  kings  and  of  the  divine  power 
of  bishops  provoked  the  commonwealths  of  New 
England  and  the  development  there  of  the  Con- 
gregational church,  as  later  it  brought  the  Com- 
monwealth of  Cromwell,  with  its  tolerance  of 
Independent  and  Presbyterian. 

When  the  Pilgrims  left  England,  the  Puritans 
had  entered  upon  their  long  contest  with  James 
over  their  ecclesiastical  and  also  their  constitu- 
tional rights.  At  his  accession,  the  king  had 
seemed  inclined  to  tolerate  the  Catholics.  Yet 
only  a  short  time  elapsed  before  many  Romanists 
were  found  upon  the  proscribed  lists.  The  Guy 
Fawkes  plot  followed.  Its  scope,  its  narrow  mar- 
gin of  failure,  coupled  with  the  king's  previous 


42      THE   DEVELOPMENT  OF  RELIGIOUS 

leniency  towards  Catholics  and  his  bitter  persecu- 
tion of  nonconformists,  created  a  frenzy  of  fear 
among  Protestants.  Immediately  the  Puritans 
saw  in  every  objectionable  ceremonial  of  the 
English  church  some  hidden  purpose,  some  Jesu- 
itical contrivance  for  overthrowing  Protestantism. 
And  as  the  ritualistic  clergy  made  their  pulpits 
resound  with  the  doctrines  of  the  divine  right  of 
kings,  the  divine  right  of  bishops,  and  of  passive 
obedience,  and  as  they  thundered  at  the  preachers 
who  opposed  or  denied  these  principles,  the  high- 
church  party  came  to  be  associated  more  and 
more  with  the  unconstitutional  policy  of  the  king. 
And  this  was  so,  notwithstanding  the  praise- 
worthy efforts  of  Archbishop  Abbott  to  modify 
the  practical  working  of  these  royal  notions.  This 
archbishop  of  Canterbury  was  a  man  of  great 
learning  and  of  gentle  spirit.  His  name  stands 
second  among  the  translators  of  King  James's 
version,  while  as  head  of  the  Ecclesiastical  Com- 
mission his  power  was  great,  his  influence  far 
reaching.  So  earnestly  did  he  strive  to  moderate 
the  king's  severity  toward  nonconformists,  to 
bring  about  a  compromise  between  the  two  great 
church  parties,  and  so  simple  was  the  ritual  in 
his  palace  at  Lambeth,  that  many  people  believed 
the  kindly  prelate  was  more  than  half  a  Puritan 
at  heart.    He  even  refused  to  license  the  publi- 


LIBERTY  IN  CONNECTICUT  43 

cation  of  a  sermon  that  most  unduly  exalted  the 
king's  prerogative,  and  he  forbade  the  reading 
of  James's  proclamation  permitting  games  and 
sports  on  Sunday.  This  proclamation  was  the 
famous  "  Book  of  Sports,"  and  many  Puritan 
clergymen  paid  dearly  for  refusing  to  read  it  to 
their  congregations.  Its  issue  exasperated  and  dis- 
couraged the  reform  party,  and,  from  this  time, 
the  Puritans  began  to  lose  hope  that  any  moral 
or  religious  betterment  would  be  permitted  among 
the  people. 

In  the  constitutional  imbroglio,  James  resented 
the  attempt  of  Parliament  to  curb  his  extrava- 
gance by  its  method  of  granting  him  money  on 
condition  that  he  would  make  ecclesiastical  re- 
forms and  grant  the  redress  of  other  grievances. 
When  the  king  grew  angry  and  attempted  to  rule 
without  a  Parliament,  the  Puritan  party  broad- 
ened its  purpose  and  became  the  champion  also 
of  civil  liberty.  Among  his  offenses,  James  re- 
fused to  restore  to  their  pulpits  three  hundred 
Puritan  ministers  whom,  in  1605,  he  silenced  for 
not  accepting  the  Three  Articles,  notwithstand- 
ing the  fact  that  Parliament  itself  had  refused  to 
make  them  binding  upon  the  clergy.  The  king 
also  refused  to  define  the  jurisdiction  of  the  ec- 
clesiastical courts,  and  to  respect  the  limitation 
of  the  powers  of  the  High  Court  of  Commission 


44      THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  RELIGIOUS 

when  they  were  determined  by  the  judges.  And 
further,  James  positively  refused  to  admit  that 
with  Parliament  alone  rested  the  power  to  levy 
imposts  and  duties.  After  wrangling  with  his 
first  Parliament  for  seven  years  over  these  and 
similar  questions,  the  king  ruled  for  the  next 
three  without  that  representative  body.  Finding 
it  necessary,  in  1614,  to  convene  his  lords, 
squires,  and  burgesses,  the  king  was  disappointed 
to  find  that  the  new  Parliament  was  no  more 
pliable  to  his  will  than  its  predecessor  had  been, 
and  he  shortly  dissolved  it.  The  great  leaders  of 
the  opposition,  such  as  Coke,  Eliot,  Pym,  Selden 
and  Hampden,  were  not  all  Puritans,  but  these 
men,  and  others  of  their  kind,  joined  with  the 
reform  party  in  demanding  that  the  rights  of 
the  people  should  be  respected  and  the  evils 
of  government  redressed.  James's  whole  reign 
was  marked  by  quarrels  with  a  stubborn  Parlia- 
ment and  by  periods  of  absolute  rule  that  were 
characterized  by  forced  loans  and  other  unlawful 
extortions. 

Upon  the  death  of  James,  in  1625,  the  nation 
turned  hopefully  to  the  young  prince,  who  thus 
far  had  pleased  them  in  many  ways.  In  contrast 
to  the  ungainly,  rickety,  garrulous  James,  Charles 
was  kingly  in  appearance,  bearing,  and  demeanor. 
He  was  reserved  in  speech  and  manner.    So  far, 


LIBERTY  IN  CONNECTICUT  45 

the  stubbornness  which  he  had  inherited  from 
his  father  was  mistaken  for  a  strong  will,  and  his 
attitude  towards  Spain,  after  the  failure  of  the 
Catholic  marriage  which  had  been  arranged  for 
him,  was  regarded  as  indicating  his  strong  Pro- 
testantism. It  took  but  a  short  time,  however,  to 
reveal  his  stubbornness,  his  vanity,  pique,  ex- 
travagance, and  insincerity.  Within  four  years, 
he  had  dissolved  Parliament  three  times,  had 
sent  Sir  John  Eliot  to  the  Tower  for  boldly  de- 
fending the  rights  of  the  people,  had  dismissed 
the  Chief  Justice  from  office  for  refusing  to 
recognize  as  legal  taxes  laid  without  consent 
of  Parliament,  had  thrown  John  Hampden 
into  prison  for  refusing  to  pay  a  forced  loan,  and, 
finally,  had  signed  the  "  Petition  of  Rights  " 17  in 
1628,  only  to  violate  it  almost  as  soon  as  the  con- 
temporary bill  for  subsidies  had  been  passed. 
Charles,  finding  he  could  not  coerce  Parliament, 
dissolved  it,  and  entered  upon  his  twelve  years 
of  absolute  rule,  marked  by  imprisonments,  by 
arbitrary  fines,  forced  loans,  sales  of  monopolies, 
and  illegal  taxes,  which  raised  the  annual  reve- 
nue from  £500,000  to  X800,000.18 

It  was  during  the  first  years  of  Charles's  misrule 
—  to  be  specific,  in  1627  —  that  "some  friends 
being  together  in  Lincolnshire  fell  into  discourse 
about  New  England  and  the  planting  of  the  Gos- 


46       THE   DEVELOPMENT  OF  RELIGIOUS 

pel  there."  Among  them  were,  probably,  Thomas 
Dudley  (who  mentions  the  discussion  in  a  letter 
to  the  Countess  of  Lincoln),  Atherton  Hough, 
Thomas  Leverett,  and  possibly  also  John  Cotton 
and  Roger  Williams,  for  all  these  men  were  wont 
to  assemble  at  Tattersall  Castle,  the  family  seat 
of  Lord  Lincoln.  The  latter  was,  in  religious 
matters,  a  staunch  Puritan,  and  in  political,  a 
fearless  opponent  of  forced  loans  and  illegal 
measures.  Thomas  Dudley  was  his  steward  and 
confidential  adviser,  and  the  others  were  his  per- 
sonal friends  and,  in  politics,  his  loyal  followers. 
These  men,  afterwards  prominent  in  New  Eng- 
land, had  watched  with  interest  the  fortunes  of 
the  Plymouth  Colony,  and  now  concluded  that 
since  England  lay  helpless  in  the  grasp  of  Charles 
the  time  had  come  to  prepare  somewhere  in  the 
American  wilderness  a  refuge  and  home  for 
oppressed  Englishmen  and  persecuted  Puritans. 
This  little  group  of  men  began  at  once  to  corre- 
spond with  others  in  London  and  also  in  the  west 
of  England  who  were  like-minded  with  them- 
selves. Men  of  the  west,  in  and  about  Dorchester, 
had  for  some  four  years  or  more  been  interested 
in  the  New  England  fisheries  between  the  Ken- 
nebec and  Cape  Ann.  On  that  promontory  they 
had  landed  some  fourteen  men,  hoping  to  start  a 
permanent  settlement.    The  plan  had  failed,  the 


LIBERTY  IN  CONNECTICUT  47 

partnership  had  been  dissolved,  and  a  few  of  the 
settlers  had  removed  to  Salem,  Massachusetts. 
The  Rev.  John  White,  the  Puritan  rector  of 
Salem,  England,  saw  a  great  opportunity.  He  at 
once  interested  some  wealthy  merchants  to  make 
Salem,  in  Massachusetts,  the  first  post  in  a  colo- 
nization scheme  of  great  magnitude,  and  as  leader 
of  an  advance  party  they  secured  John  Endicott. 
From  the  council  for  New  England  the  company 
secured  a  patent  on  March  19, 1628,  for  the  lands 
between  the  Merrimac  and  the  Charles  rivers. 
On  June  20,  1628,  thirteen  days  after  Charles 
had  signed  the  "Petition  of  Rights"  that  he 
was  so  soon  to  violate,  the  advance  guard  of  the 
colonists  set  sail  for  Salem,  in  the  New  World, 
arriving  there  early  in  the  following  Septem- 
ber. 

In  America,  friendly  relations  were  soon  es- 
tablished between  the  settlers  of  Salem  and  Plym- 
outh. On  the  voyage  over,  sickness,  due  to  the 
unwholesome  salt  in  which  some  of  their  provi- 
sions had  been  packed,  broke  out  among  the 
Salem  colonists,  and  continuing  in  the  settlement, 
forced  Endicott  to  send  to  Plymouth  for  Dr. 
Samuel  Fuller,  deacon  in  the  church  there.  He 
was  skilled  both  in  medicine  and  in  church-lore, 
for  he  had  also  been  one  of  the  two  deacons  in 
the  church  during  its  Leyden  days.    He  worked 


48       THE  DEVELOPMENT   OF  RELIGIOUS 

among  the  disabled  at  Salem,  and,  later,  among 
the  sick  colonists  at  Boston,  paving  the  way  for 
a  better  understanding  and  closer  friendship  with 
the  Plymouth  settlers.  There  had  been  a  ten- 
dency to  look  upon  these  earlier  colonists  as  ex- 
tremists. Their  enemies  in  derision  called  them 
"  Brownists."  They  did  in  truth  cling  most  firmly 
to  Browne's  doctrine  that  the  civil  magistrate  had 
no  control  over  the  church  of  Christ.  In  their 
opinion,  the  function  of  the  civil  power  in  any 
union  of  church  and  state  was  limited  to  up- 
holding the  spiritual  power  by  approving  the 
church's  discipline,  since  that  had  for  its  object 
the  moral  welfare  of  the  people.  As  Endicott  and 
Fuller  talked  together  of  all  that  in  their  hearts 
they  both  desired  for  the  church  of  the  future, 
they  realized  that  they  agreed  on  many  points. 
The  Plymouth  church  had  been  virtually  under 
the  sole  rule  of  its  elder,  William  Brewster, 
during  the  greater  part  of  its  life  in  America, 
for  its  aged  pastor  had  died  before  he  could  re- 
join his  flock.  Such  government  had  tended  to 
modify  the  early  insistence  upon  the  principle 
that  the  power  of  the  church  was  "  above  that 
of  its  officers."  This  doctrine  was  associated 
in  men's  minds  more  with  Robert  Browne,  who 
had  originated  it,  than  with  Henry  Barrowe, 
who  had  modified  it,  and  it  was  towards  Bar- 


LIBERTY  IN  CONNECTICUT  49 

rowism  that  the  larger  body  of  Puritans  were 
drawn. 

The  Salem  people,  in  their  isolation  three 
thousand  miles  from  the  home-land,  felt  the  neces- 
sity of  some  form  of  church  organization.  As 
they  had  fled  from  the  offensive  ceremonial  of  the 
English  Church,  they  determined  to  be  free  from 
cross  and  prayer-book,  and  from  anything  sug- 
gestive of  offense.  In  the  great  matter  of  mem- 
bership and  constitution,  their  new  church  was 
to  be  brought  still  nearer  to  the  requirements 
and  simplicity  of  Gospel  standards.  More  and 
more  Puritans  were  coming  to  prefer  the  church 
of  "  covenant  membership "  to  the  birthright 
membership  of  the  English  Establishment.  Many 
were  urging  a  limited  independence  in  the  organ- 
ization, management,  and  discipline  of  members 
of  local  churches.  Some  among  the  Puritans  had 
adopted  the  Presbyterian  polity,  while  many  pre- 
ferred that  form  of  ordination.  Such  ordination 
had  been  accepted  as  valid  for  English  clergy- 
men during  the  earlier  part  of  Elizabeth's  reign. 
It  was  still  so  recognized  by  all  the  English  clergy 
for  the  ministers  of  the  Reformed  churches  on 
the  Continent,  and  with  such,  English  clergy- 
men of  all  opinions  still  continued  to  hold  very 
friendly  intercourse.  It  was  not  until  Laud's 
ascendency  that  claims  for  the  divine  right  of 


50     THE   DEVELOPMENT  OF  RELIGIOUS 

Episcopacy,  to  the  exclusion  of  other  branches 
of  the  Christian  faith,  were  strenuously  urged. 
Thus  it  happened  that  after  many  conferences, 
Endicott  could  write  to  Governor  Bradford  in 
May  of  1629,  that:  — 

I  acknowledge  myself  much  bound  to  you  for 
your  kind  love  and  care  in  sending  Mr.  Samuel 
Fuller  among  us,  and  rejoice  much  that  I  am  by  him 
satisfied  touching  your  judgment  of  the  outward  form 
of  God's  worship.  It  is,  as  far  as  I  can  gather,  no 
other  than  is  warranted  by  the  evidence  of  truth,  and 
the  same  which  I  have  ever  professed  and  maintained 
ever  since  the  Lord  in  mercy  revealed  Himself  unto 
me  :  being  far  from  the  common  report  that  hath  been 
spread  of  you  touching  that  particular. 

Endicott  further  expresses  the  wish  that  they 
may  all  "  as  Christian  brethren  be  united  by  a 
heavenly  and  unfeigned  love  ;  "  that  as  servants 
of  one  Master  and  of  one  household  they  should 
not  be  strangers,  but  be  "  marked  with  one  and 
the  same  mark,  and  sealed  with  one  and  the  same 
seal,  and  have,  for  the  main,  one  and  the  same 
heart  guided  by  one  and  the  same  Spirit  of 
truth,"  and  that  they  should  bend  their  hearts 
and  forces  to  the  furthering  of  the  work  for 
which  they  had  come  into  the  wilderness.  Thus, 
Salem  had  decided  upon  the  type  of  church 
her  people  wanted,  while  she  still  waited  for  the 


LIBERTY  IN  CONNECTICUT  51 

ministers  who  were  coming  with  the  larger  num- 
ber of  her  colonists,  and  whom  she  believed  com- 
petent to  guide  her  religious  life. 

Only  a  few  weeks  after  the  sending  of  Endi- 
cott's  letter  to  Governor  Bradford,  five  vessels 
arrived,  bringing  several  hundred  well-equipped 
colonists.  They  had  been  sent  out  by  the  Gov- 
ernor and  Company  of  Massachusetts  Bay.  This 
corporation  had  bought  out  the  Salem  Company, 
and  was  backed  by  the  most  influential  Puritans 
of  wealth  and  social  prominence,  by  men  who 
had  lost  all  hope  of  either  religious  or  civil  free- 
dom when  Laud  had  been  raised  to  the  bishopric 
of  London  and  when  Charles  persisted  in  his 
despotic  government.  By  the  elevation  of  Laud 
to  the  bishopric  of  London,  Charles  offended 
the  most  puritanically  inclined  diocese  in  Eng- 
land, and  the  whole  Puritan  party.  In  his  new 
office,  Laud  quickly  succeeded  in  severing  com- 
munication between  the  Reformed  churches  on 
the  Continent  and  those  in  England.  He  strictly 
prohibited  the  common  people  from  using  the 
annotated  pocket-Bibles  sent  out  by  the  Genevan 
press.  He  forbade  the  entrance  into  office  of 
nonconformists  as  lecturers  or  chaplains.  He 
put  an  end  to  feofments,  so  that  puritanically 
inclined  men  of  wealth  could  no  longer  control 
the  livings.    He  excluded  suspended   ministers 


52     THE   DEVELOPMENT  OF  RELIGIOUS 

from  teaching,  and  also  from  the  practice  of 
medicine,  and  even  forbade  their  entering  busi- 
ness life.  He  required  absolute  conformity  to  his 
own  high-church  standards.  He  insisted  upon 
doing  away  with  all  Calvinistic  innovations 
tending  to  simplicity  of  ritual,  and  upon  reviv- 
ing many  ecclesiastical  ceremonies  which  had 
fallen  into  disuse.  Hence,  English  Puritans 
saw  in  America  the  only  hope  of  the  future,  and 
began  that  exodus  which,  during  the  next  ten 
years,  or  more,  annually  sent  two  thousand  emi- 
grants to  the  Massachusetts  shore  to  find  homes 
throughout  New  England.  Of  these,  the  Salem 
colonists  were  the  first  large  body  of  Puritans  to 
emigrate.  Among  them  were  three  ministers, 
Endicott's  former  pastor  Samuel  Skelton,  Fran- 
cis Higginson,  and  Francis  Bright. 

When  Higginson  and  Skelton  learned  of  the 
friendship  with  Plymouth,  and  that  Endicott 
had  adopted  the  system  of  church  organization 
established  in  the  older  settlement,  they  accepted 
it  as  being  in  accord  with  the  principles  of  the 
Reformed  churches  on  the  Continent,  whose  pat- 
tern they  had  themselves  resolved  to  follow  in 
organizing:  the  church  at  Salem.  Not  so  Francis 
Bright.  He  could  not  agree  with  the  others, 
and  so  withdrew  to  Charlestown  in  order  not  to 
embarrass  the  young  church.     Higginson  and 


LIBERTY   IN   CONNECTICUT  53 

Skelton  were  each  in  turn  questioned  as  to  their 
conception  of  a  minister's  calling.  Replying  that 
it  was  twofold  :  a  call  from  within  to  a  conviction 
that  a  man  was  chosen  of  God  to  be  His  minis- 
ter, and  thereby  endowed  with  proper  gifts,  and 
a  call  from  without  by  the  free  choice  of  a 
"  covenanted  church  "  to  be  its  pastor,  they  were 
accepted  as  satisfactory  candidates  for  the  two 
highest  offices  in  the  Salem  church.  Later,  upon 
an  appointed  day  of  prayer  and  fasting,  July 
20,  1629,  the  people  by  written  ballot  chose 
Francis  Skelton  to  be  their  pastor  and  Thomas 
Higginson  their  teacher.  When  they  had  ac- 
cepted their  election,  "  first  Mr.  Higginson,  with 
three  or  four  of  the  gravest  members  of  the 
church,  laid  their  hands  upon  Mr.  Skelton,  using 
prayer  therewith.  This  being  done,  there  was 
imposition  of  hands  upon  Mr.  Higginson  also." 
Upon  a  still  later  day  of  prayer  and  humiliation, 
August  6,  elders  and  deacons  were  chosen  and 
ordained.  Upon  this  day,  the  two  ministers 
and  many  among  the  people  gave  their  assent 
to  the  Confession  and  Covenant  which  the  pastor 
and  teacher  had  revised.  At  the  second  of  these 
two  important  meetings,  Governor  Bradford 
and  delegates  from  the  Plymouth  church  were 
present.  "  Coining  by  sea  they  were  hindered 
by  cross-winds  that  they  could  not  be  there  at  the 


54     THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  RELIGIOUS 

beginning  of  the  day ;  but  they  came  into  the 
assembly  afterward,  and  gave  them  the  right 
hand  of  fellowship,  wishing  all  prosperity  and 
all  blessedness  to  such  good  beginnings."  19  The 
Salem  covenant  in  its  original  form  was  a  single 
sentence :  "  We  covenant  with  the  Lord  and 
with  one  another ;  and  doe  bynd  ourselves  in 
the  presence  of  God  to  walk  together  in  all  his 
wayes,  according  as  he  is  pleased  to  reveale  him' 
self  unto  us  in  his  Blessed  word  of  truth."  ^ 

The  formation  of  the  church  of  Salem  by 
covenant  practice  a  marked  the  beginning  of  the 
Congregational  polity  among  the  Puritan  body ; 
their  local  ordination  of  their  minister,  the  break 
with  English  Episcopacy,  though,  for  a  consider- 
able while  longer,  the  colonists  still  spoke  of 
themselves  as  members  of  the  Church  of  Eng- 
land, for  both  the  colonial  and  the  home  author- 
ities were  equally  anxious  to  avoid  the  stigma  of 
Separatism. 

The  next  large  body  of  colonists  to  leave  Eng- 

°  This  fundamental  principle  of  Congregationalism  belonged 
to  the  Separatists  and  was  one  of  their  distinctive  tenets.  It 
was  never  adopted  by  the  English  Puritans  as  a  body,  nor  was 
ordination  by  a  local  church.  The  Dorchester  church  had  some 
form  of  pledge  at  the  time  of  its  organization.  So  also,  pos- 
sibly, because  influenced  by  Dutch  example,  did  Rev.  Hugh 
Peter's  church  in  Rotterdam.  But  these  were  exceptions. — 
W.  Walker,  Ilist.  of  Cong.,  p.  192. 


LIBERTY   IN   CONNECTICUT  55 

land  was  Governor  Winthrop's  company,  and, 
upon  their  arrival,  the  Boston  church  quickly 
followed  the  example  of  Salem.  Next,  the  Dor- 
chester church,  afterwards  the  church  of  Wind- 
sor, Connecticut,  emigrated  as  a  body  from 
Plymouth,  England,  where,  before  embarking, 
its  members  seem  to  have  taken  some  form  of 
membership  pledge,  —  an  unusual  proceeding, 
but  operating  to  put  this  church  in  line  with 
those  already  organized  in  Plymouth  and  Mas- 
sachusetts. The  Watertown  church,  whence 
emigrants  were  to  settle  Wethersfield,  Connecti- 
cut, also  organized  with  a  covenant  similar  to 
that  of  Salem  and  Boston.  These  four  oldest 
congregations  set  the  type  for  the  thirty-five 
New  England  churches  that  were  founded  pre- 
vious to  1640,  as  well  as  for  the  later  ones  that 
followed  the  standard  thus  early  set  up  by  Plym- 
outh, Massachusetts,  and  Connecticut.  There 
was  some  variation  in  the  form  of  covenant^ 
and  to  it  a  brief  confession  of  faith,  or  creed, 
was  early  added.    There  was  some  variation  also 

a  The  evolution  of  the  Salem  covenant  and  creed  is  given 
in  detail  in  W.  Walker's  Creeds  and  Platforms,  pp.  99-122. 

The  Windsor  Creed  of  1647,  though  not  covering  the  range 
of  Christian  doctrine,  contained  in  simple  phrase  the  essentials 
of  Gospel  redemption  from  sin  through  repentance  and  faith  in 
the  atoning  work  of  Christ  and  a  life  of  love  toward  God  and 
our  neighbor,  through  the  strength  which  comes  from  him. 
—  W.  Walker,  Creeds  and  Platforms,  p.  154. 


56     THE   DEVELOPMENT  OF  RELIGIOUS 

in  the  interpretation  of  the  laying  on  of  hands 
in  ordination  as  to  whether  it  was  to  be  con- 
sidered, in  cases  where  the  candidate  had  pre- 
viously been  ordained  in  England,  as  ordination 
or  as  confirmation  of  that  previously  received.3 
In  regard  to  officers,  the  churches  at  first  pro- 
vided themselves  with  pastor,  ruling  elders  (one 
or  two,  but  generally  only  one),  and  deacons. 
There  were  exceptions  among  them,  as  at  Plym- 
outh, where  there  was  no  pastor  for  ten  years, 
and  in  which  there  had  never  been  a  teacher, 
for  John  Robinson  had  filled  both  offices.  As 
the  first  generation  of  colonists  passed  away, 
partly  because  of  lack  of  fit  candidates,  partly 
because  of  the  kinship  of  the  two  offices  of  pas- 
tor and  teacher,  and  partly  because  of  the  heavy 
expense  in  supporting  both,  the  office  of  teacher 
was  dropped.  The  ruling  eldership  also  was 
gradually  discontinued  ;  but  at  first  the  churches 
generally  had,  with  the  exception  of  widows,  the 
full  complement  of  officers  as  appointed  by 
Browne  and  Barrowe.  The  usual  order  of  wor- 
ship was  (1)  Prayer.  (2)  Psalm.  (3)  Scripture 
reading,  followed  by  the  pastor's  preaching  to 
explain  and  apply  it.  (4)  Prophesying  or  ex- 
hortation, the  elders  calling  for  speakers,  whether 

a  See  G.  L.  Walker,  Hist,  of  First  Church  in  Hartford, 
p.  17. 


LIBERTY   IN  CONNECTICUT  57 

members  or  guests  from  other  churches.  (5) 
Questions  from  old  or  young,  women  excepted. 

(6)  Occasional  administration  of  the  Lord's 
Supper  or  of  Baptism,  rites  known  as  the  ad- 
ministration of   "  the  Seals  of  the   Covenant. " 

(7)  Psalm.  (8)  Collection.  (9)  Dismissal  with 
blessing.  Such  were  the  New  England  churches, 
the  churches  of  a  transplanted  creed  and  race. 
They  were  Calvinistic  in  dogma,  democratic  in 
organization,  and  of  extreme  simplicity  in  their 
order  of  worship. 


CHAPTER  III 

CHURCH   AND    STATE    IN   NEW   ENGLAND 

For  God  and  the  Church ! 

With  the  great  Puritan  body  in  England,  and 
with  the  great  mass  of  the  English  nation, 
whatever  their  religious  opinions,  the  colonists  of 
Plymouth,  Massachusetts,  Connecticut,  and  New 
Haven  held  in  common  one  foremost  theory  of 
civil  government.  Pausing  for  a  brief  considera- 
tion of  this  fundamental  and  far-reaching  theory, 
which  created  so  many  difficulties  in  the  infant 
commonwealths,  and  which  confronts  us  again  and 
again  as  we  follow  their  later  history,  we  find  that 
the  Pilgrim  Separatist  of  Plymouth,  the  strict 
Puritan  of  Massachusetts,  the  voter  in  the  theo- 
cratic commonwealth  of  New  Haven,  and  the 
holder  of  the  liberal  franchise  in  Connecticut,  all 
clung  to  the  proposition  that  the  State's  first  duty 
was  the  maintenance  and  support  of  religion. 
Thereby  they  meant  enforced  taxation  for  the 
support  of  its  predominant  type,  conformity  to 
its  mode  of  worship,  and  in  the  last  analysis 
supervision  or  control  of  the  Church  by  the  State 


LIBERTY  IN  CONNECTICUT  59 

or  by  the  General  Court  of  each  colony.  As  a 
corollary  to  this  proposition,  the  duty  of  the 
churches  was  to  define  the  creed,  to  set  forth  the 
church  polity,  and  to  determine  the  bounds  of  mo- 
rality within  the  state.  Two  of  the  colonies  held 
the  corollary  to  be  so  important  that  it  almost 
changed  places  with  the  proposition  when  Massa- 
chusetts and  New  Haven  became  rigid  theocracies.0 
With  respect  to  taxation  in  the  four  colonies 
the  statement  should  be  modified,  inasmuch  as  the 
support  of  religion  was  at  first  voluntary  in  all 
four :  in  Plymouth  until  1657.,  in  Massachu- 
setts from  1630  to  1638,  in  Connecticut  before 
1640  ;  yet  both  New  Haven  and  Connecticut 
accepted  the  suggestion  made  by  the  Commis- 
sioners of  the  United  Colonies  on  September  5, 
1644,  "  that  each  man  should  be  required  to  set 
down  what  he  would  voluntarily  give  for  the 
support  of  the  gospel,  and  that  any  man  who  re- 
fused should  be  rated  according  to  his  possessions 
and  compelled  to  pay  "the  sum  so  levied.  Since 
in  religious  affairs  strict  conformity  was  required 
by  the  three  Puritan  colonies,  and  since  the 
liberty  accorded  to  the  few  early  dissenters  in 

a  "  The  one  prime,  all  essential,  and  sufficient  quality  of  a 
theocracy  .  .  .  adopted  as  the  form  of  an  earthly  government, 
was  that  the  civil  power  should  be  guided  in  its  exercise  by 
religion  and  religious  ordinances."  —  G.  E.  Ellis,  Puritan  Age  in 
Massachusetts,  p.  188. 


60     THE   DEVELOPMENT  OF  RELIGIOUS 

Plymouth  was  not  such  as  to  modify  her  prevail- 
ing polity  or  worship,  these  first  few  years  of 
voluntary  assessment  do  not  nullify  the  dominant 
truth  of  the  preceding  statement. 

In  the  intimate  relation  of  Church  and  State, 
the  people  of  these  four  New  England  colonies 
regarded  the  magistrates  as  "  Nursing  Fathers  " 
of  the  Church, 21  who  were  to  take  "  special  note 
and  care  of  every  Church  and  provide  and  assign 
allotments  of  land  for  the  maintenance  of  each  of 
them."  ^  The  State,  accepting  the  same  view  of 
caretaker,  carried  its  supervision  still  farther  and 
devised  a  system  for  the  maintenance  of  the  min- 
istry in  accordance  with  sundry  laws  made  to  in- 
sure the  people's  support,  respect,  and  obedience. 
The  churches  reciprocated.  First  of  all,  they 
provided  their  members  with  the  approved  and 
accepted  essentials  of  religious  life,  and  they 
further  exercised  a  rigorous  supervision  over  the 
moral  welfare  of  the  whole  community.  Secondly, 
they  aided  the  State  through  the  influence  of  their 
ministers,  who,  on  all  important  occasions,  were 
expected  to  meet  with  the  magistrates  to  consult 
and  advise  upon  affairs  whether  spiritual  or  tem- 
poral. But  the  framers  of  governments  were  not 
satisfied  with  these  measures  that  aimed  to  present 
a  strongly  established  church,  capable  of  extend- 
ing a  fine  moral,  ethical,  and  religious  influence 


LIBERTY  IN  CONNECTICUT  61 

over  the  colonists,  and  also  to  enforce  upon  the 
wayward,  the  careless,  or  the  indifferent  among 
them  its  support  and  their  obedience.  If  these 
measures  provided  for  the  ordinary  welfare  of 
the  community  and  for  the  usual  relations  be- 
tween the  ministers  and  their  people,  there  were 
still  possibilities  of  factional  strife  to  guard 
against,  and  such  warfare  in  that  age  might  or 
mig;ht  not  confine  itself  within  the  limits  of  theo- 
logical  controversy  or  within  the  lines  of  church 
organization.  Consequently,  the  better  to  pre- 
serve the  churches  from  schism  or  corrupting  in- 
novations and  the  commonwealth  from  discord, 
the  supreme  control  of  the  churches  was  lodged 
in  the  General  Court  of  each  colony.  It  could, 
whenever  necessary  to  secure  harmony,  whether 
ecclesiastical  or  civil,  legislate  with  reference  to 
all  or  any  of  the  churches  within  its  jurisdiction. 
Examples  of  such  legislation  occur  frequently 
in  the  religious  history  of  the  colonies,  especially 
of  Massachusetts  and  Connecticut.  Such  inter- 
dependence of  the  spiritual  and  temporal  power 
practically  amounted  to  a  union  of  Church  and 
State.  Indeed,  in  Massachusetts  and  New  Haven, 
to  be  a  voter,  a  man  must  first  be  a  member  of 
a  church  of  approved  standing.0    In  more  liberal 

a  "  Noe  man  shal  be  admitted  to  the  freedome  of  this  body 
politicke,  but  such  as  are  members  of  some  of  the  churches 


62      THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  RELIGIOUS 

Plymouth  and  Connecticut,  the  franchise,  at  first, 
was  made  to  depend  only  upon  conduct,  though 
it  was  early  found  necessary  to  add  a  property 
qualification  in  order  to  cut  off  undesirable 
voters.23  In  the  Connecticut  colony,  it  was  ex- 
pressly enacted  that  church  censure  should  not 
debar  from  civil  privilege.  When  advocating  this 
amount  of  separation  between  church  and  civil 
power,  Thomas  Hooker  was  not  moved  by  any 
such  religious  principle  as  influenced  the  Separa- 
tists of  Plymouth.  On  the  contrary,  it  was  his 
political  foresight  which  made  him  urge  upon  the 

within  the  lymitts  of  the  same."  —  Mass.  Col.  Rec.  i,  87,  under 
date  of  May  28,  1631. 

"  Church  members  onely  shall  be  free  burgesses  and  they 
onely  shall  chuse  magistrates  and  officers  among  themselves  to 
haue  the  power  of  transacting  in  all  publique  and  ciuill  affayres 
of  this  plantatio." —  New  Haven  Col.  Rec.  i,  15;  also  ii,  115, 
116. 

The  governments  of  Massachusetts  and  New  Haven  "  never 
absolutely  merged  church  and  state."  The  franchise  depended 
on  church-membership,  but  the  voter,  exercising  his  right  in 
directing  the  affairs  of  the  colony,  was  speaking,  "  not  as  the 
church  but  as  the  civil  Court  of  Legislation  and  adjudication." 
—  W.  Walker,  History  of  the  Congregational  Churches,  p.  123. 

Yet  it  was  due  to  this  merging  and  this  dependence  that  on 
October  25,  1639,  there  were  only  sixteen  free  burgesses  or 
voters  out  of  one  hundred  and  forty-four  planters  in  the  New 
Haven  Colony.  —  See  N.  H.  Col.  Rec.  i,  20. 

"  Theoretically  Church  and  State  (in  Connecticut)  were  sepa- 
rated :  practically  they  were  so  interwoven  that  separation 
would  have  meant  the  severance  of  soul  and  body."  —  C.  M. 
Andrews,  Three  River  Towns  of  Conn.  p.  22. 


LIBERTY  IN   CONNECTICUT  63 

colonists  a  more  representative  government a  than 
would  be  obtainable  from  a  franchise  based  upon 
church-membership  where,  as  in  the  colonial 
churches,  admission  to  such  membership  was  con- 
ditioned upon  exacting  tests.  The  great  Connect- 
icut leader  was  far  in  advance  of  the  statesmen 
of  his  time,  for  they  held  that  the  religion  of  a 
prince  or  government  must  be  the  religion  of  the 
people  ;  that  every  subject  must  be  by  birthright 
a  member  of  the  national  church,  to  leave  which 
was  both  heretical  and  disloyal  and  should  be 
punished  by  political  and  civil  disabilities.  This 
union  of  Church  and  State  was  the  theory  of  the 
age,  —  a  principle  of  statecraft  throughout  all 
of  Europe  as  well  as  in  England.  Naturally  it 
emigrated  to  New  England  to  be  a  foundation  of 
civil  government  and  a  fortress  for  that  type 
of  nonconformity  which  the  colonists  chose  to 
transplant   and  make  predominant.     The  type, 

a  To  John  Cotton's  "  democracy,  I  do  not  conceive  that  ever 
God  did  ordain,  as  a  fit  government  for  church  or  common- 
wealth," and  to  Gov.  Winthrop's  objections  to  committing'  mat- 
ters to  the  judgment  of  the  body  of  the  people  because  "  safety 
lies  in  the  councils  of  the  best  part  which  is  always  the  least, 
and  of  the  best  part,  the  wiser  is  always  the  lesser,"  Hooker 
replied  that  "  in  all  matters  which  concern  the  common  good, 
a  general  council,  chosen  by  all,  to  transact  the  business  which 
concerns  all,  I  conceive  under  favor,  most  suitable  to  rule  and 
most  safe  for  tbe  relief  of  the  whole."  —  Hutchinson,  Hist,  of 
Mass.  i,  App.  iii. 


64     THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  RELIGIOUS 

as  we  have  seen,  was  Congregationalism,  and  the 
Congregational  church  became  the  established 
church  in  each  of  the  four  colonies. 

This  theory  of  Church  and  State  was  the  cause 
at  bottom  of  all  the  early  theological  dissensions 
which  disturbed  the  peace  and  threatened  the 
colony  of  Massachusetts.  Moreover,  their  settle- 
ment offers  the  most  striking  contrast  between 
the  fundamental  theory  of  Congregationalism 
and  the  theory  of  a  union  between  Church  and 
State.  With  the  power  of  supervision  over  the 
Church  lodged  in  the  General  Court,  whatever 
the  theory  of  Congregationalism  as  to  the  inde- 
pendence of  the  individual  churches,  in  practice 
the  civil  authority  disciplined  them  and  their 
members,  and  early  invaded  ecclesiastical  terri- 
tory. In  Salem,  Endicott  took  it  upon  himself  to 
expel  Ralph  Smith  for  holding  extreme  Separat- 
ist principles,  and  shipped  the  Browns  back  to 
England  for  persisting  in  the  use  of  the  Book 
of  Common  Prayer.  He  considered  both  parties 
equally  dangerous  to  the  welfare  of  the  com- 
munity, because,  according  to  the  new  standard 
of  church-life,  both  were  censurable.  Endicott 
held  that  to  tolerate  any  measure  of  diversity  in 
religious  practices  was  to  cultivate  the  ferment 
of  civil  disorder.  Considering  the  bitterness,  nar- 
rowness, intensity,  and  also  the  irritating  convic- 


LIBERTY  IN  CONNECTICUT  65 

tion  that  every  one  else  was  heretical  and  anti- 
Christian,  with  which  men  of  that  age  clung  to 
their  religious  differences,  Endicott  had  some 
reason  for  holding  this  opinion.  The  Boston 
authorities  believed  in  no  less  drastic  measures 
to  maintain  the  civil  peace  and  consequent  good 
name  of  the  colony.  John  Davenport  of  New 
Haven  voiced  the  Massachusetts  sentiment  as  well 
as  his  own  in:  "Civil  government  is  for  the  com- 
mon welfare  of  all,  as  well  in  the  Church  as  with- 
out ;  which  will  then  be  most  certainly  effected, 
when  Public  Trust  and  Power  of  these  matters 
is  committed  to  such  men  as  are  most  approved 
according  to  God;  and  these  are  Church-mem- 
bers."24 Consequently,  the  Massachusetts  law 
of  1631  25  forbade  any  but  church  members  to 
become  freemen  of  the  colony,  and  to  these  only 
was  intrusted  any  share  in  its  government.  A 
similar  law  was  later  formulated  for  the  New 
Haven  colony.  John  Cotton  echoed  the  further 
sentiment  of  a  New  England  community  when, 
writing  of  the  relations  between  the  churches 
and  the  magistrates,  he  defined  the  church  as 
"  subject  to  the  Magistrate  in  the  matters  con- 
cerning the  civil  peace,  of  which  there  are  four 
sorts:  "  (1)  with  reference  to  men's  goods,  lives, 
liberty,  and  lands  ;  (2)  with  establishment  of 
religion  in  doctrine,  worship,  and  government 


66     THE   DEVELOPMENT  OF  RELIGIOUS 

according  to  the  Word  of  God,  as  also  the  re- 
formation of  corruption  in  any  of  these  ;  (3)  with 
certain  public  spiritual  administrations  which 
may  help  forward  the  public  good,  as  fasts  and 
synods ;  (4)  and  finally  the  church  must  be  sub- 
ject to  the  magistrates  in  patient  suffering  of 
unjust  persecution,  since  for  her  to  take  up  the 
sword  in  her  own  defense  would  only  increase 
the  disturbance  of  the  public  peace.26  As  a  re- 
sult of  such  public  sentiment,  churches  were  not 
to  be  organized  without  the  approval  of  the  mag- 
istrates, nor  were  any  "  persons  being  members 
of  any  church  .  .  .  gathered  without  the  appro- 
bation of  the  magistrates  and  the  greater  part  of 
said  churches "  (churches  of  the  colony)  to  be 
admitted  to  the  freedom  of  the  commonwealth.27 
This  law,  or  its  equivalent,  with  reference  to 
church  organization  was  found  upon  the  statute 
books  of  all  four  colonies. 

In  a  pioneer  community  and  a  primitive  com- 
monwealth, developing  slowly  in  accord  with  the 
new  democratic  principles  underlying  both  its 
church  and  secular  life,  the  "  maintenance  of  the 
peace  and  welfare  of  the  churches,"  28  which  was 
intrusted  to  the  care  of  the  General  Court,  was 
frequently  equivalent  to  maintaining  the  civil 
peace  and  prosperity  of  the  colony.  Endicott's 
deportation  of  the  Browns  and  the  report  of  the 


LIBERTY  IN  CONNECTICUT  67 

exclusiveness  and  exacting  tests  of  membership 
in  the  colonial  churches  had  early  led  the  mem- 
bers of  the  Massachusetts  Bay  Company,  resi- 
dent in  England,  to  fear  that  the  emigrants  had 
departed  from  their  original  intent  and  purpose. 
And  the  colonists  began  to  feel  that  they  were 
in  danger  of  falling  under  the  displeasure  of  their 
king  and  of  their  Puritan  friends  at  home.  Con- 
sequently, there  entered  into  the  settling  of  all 
later  religious  differences  in  the  colony  the  de- 
termination to  avoid  appeals  to  the  home  country, 
and  also  to  avoid  any  report  of  disturbance  or 
dissatisfaction  that  might  be  prejudicial  to  her 
independence,  general  policy,  or  commercial  pros- 
perity. The  recognition  of  such  danger  made 
many  persons  satisfied  to  submit  to  government 
by  an  exclusive  class,  comprising  in  Massachu- 
setts one  tenth  of  the  people  and  in  the  New 
Haven  colony  one  ninth.  These  alone  had  any 
voice  in  making  the  laws.  In  submitting  to  their 
dictation,  the  large  majority  of  the  people  had 
to  submit  to  a  "government  that  left  no  inci- 
dent, circumstance,  or  experience  of  the  life  of 
an  individual,  personal,  domestic,  social,  or  civil, 
still  less  anything  that  concerned  religion,  free 
from  the  direct  or  indirect  interposition  of  pub- 
lic authority."  29  Such  inquisitorial  supervision 
was  due  to  the  close  alliance  of  Church  and  State 


G8      THE   DEVELOPMENT   OF   RELIGIOUS 

within  the  narrow  limits  of  a  theocracy.  In 
more  liberal  Plymouth  and  Connecticut,  the 
"  watch  and  ward  "  over  one's  fellows,  which 
the  early  colonial  church  insisted  upon,  was  ex- 
tended only  over  church  members,  and  even  over 
them  was  less  rigorous,  less  intrusive. 

Something  of  the  development  of  the  great 
authority  of  the  State  over  the  churches  and  of 
its  attitude  and  theirs  towards  synods  may  be 
gleaned  from  the  earliest  pages  of  Massachusetts 
ecclesiastical  history.  The  starting-point  of  pre- 
cedent for  the  elders  of  the  church  to  be  regarded 
as  advisors  only  and  the  General  Court  as  authori- 
tative seems  to  have  been  in  a  matter  of  taxation, 
when,  in  February,  1632,  the  General  Court 
assessed  the  church  in  Watertown.  The  elders 
advised  resistance ;  the  Court  compelled  payment. 
In  the  following  July,  the  Boston  church  inquired 
of  the  churches  of  Plymouth,  Salem,  Dorchester, 
and  Watertown,  whether  a  ruling  elder  could  at 
the  same  time  hold  office  as  a  civil  magistrate. 
A  correspondence  ensued  and  the  answer  returned 
was  that  he  could  not.  Thereupon,  Mr.  Nowell 
resigned  his  eldership  in  the  Boston  church.30 
Winthrop  mentions  eight a  important  occasions 

n  (1)  To  adjust  a  difference  between  Governor  Winthrop  and 
Deputy  Dudley  in  1632  ;  (2)  about  building  a  fort  at  Nantas- 
ket,  February,  1G32 ;  (3)  in  regard  to  the  settlement  of  the 


LIBERTY  IN   CONNECTICUT  69 

between  1632  and  1635  when  the  elders,  which 
term  included  pastors,  teachers,  and  ruling  elders, 
were  summoned  by  the  General  Court  of  Massa- 
chusetts to  give  advice  upon  temporal  affairs.  In 
March  of  1635-36  the  Court  "  entreated  them 
(the  elders)  together  with  the  brethren  of  every 
church  within  the  jurisdiction,  to  consult  and 
advise  of  one  uniforme  order  of  discipline  in  the 
churches  agreable  to  Scriptures,  and  then  to 
consider  how  far  the  magistrates  are  bound  to 
interpose  for  the  preservation  of  that  uniformity 
and  peace  of  the  churches."  31  The  desire  of  the 
Court  grew  in  part  out  of  the  influx  of  new  colo- 
nists, who  did  not  like  the  strict  church  disci- 
pline, and  in  part  out  of  the  tangle  of  Church  and 
State  during  the  Roger  Williams  controversy. 
The  Court  had  disciplined  Williams  as  one,  who, 
having  no  rights  in  the  corporation,  had  no  ground 
for  complaint  at  the  hostile  reception  of  his  teach- 
ings. These  the  authorities  regarded  as  harmful 
to  their  government  and  dangerous  to  religion. 
His  too  warm  adherents  in  the  Salem  church 

Rev.  John  Cotton,  September,  1633 ;  (4)  in  consultation  con- 
cerning Roger  Williams's  denial  of  the  patent,  January,  1634 ; 
(5)  concerning1  rights  of  trade  at  Kennebec,  July,  1634 ;  (6)  in 
regard  to  the  fort  on  Castle  Island,  August,  1634 ;  (7)  concern- 
ing the  rumor  in  1635  of  the  coming  of  a  Governor-General ; 
and  (8)  in  the  case  of  Mr.  Nowell.  —  Winthrop,  i,  pp.  89,  99, 
112,  122,  136-137,  159-181. 


70      THE   DEVELOPMENT  OF  RELIGIOUS 

were,  however,  rightful  members  of  the  commu- 
nity, and  they  had  been  punished  for-  upholding 
one  whom  the  General  Court,  advised  by  the 
elders  of  the  churches,  had  seen  fit  to  censure. 
Punished  thus,  ostensibly,  for  contempt  of  the 
magistrates  by  the  refusal  to  them  of  the  land 
they  claimed  as  theirs  on  Marblehead  Neck,  and 
feeling  that  the  independence  of  their  church  life 
and  their  rightful  choice  in  the  selection  of  their 
pastor  had  really  been  infringed,  the  Salem 
church  sent  letters  to  the  elders  of  all  the  other 
churches  of  the  Bay,  asking  that  the  magistrates 
and  deputies  be  admonished  for  their  decision  as 
a  "  heinous  sin."  The  Court  came  out  victorious, 
by  refusing  at  its  next  general  session  to  seat  the 
Salem  deputies  "  until  they  should  give  satisfac- 
tion by  letter"  for  holding  dangerous  opinions 
and  for  writing  "  letters  of  defamation,"  and  by 
proceeding  to  banish  Roger  Williams.  Before  the 
session  of  the  Court,  the  elders  of  the  Massachu- 
setts churches,  jointly  and  individually,  labored 
with  the  Salem  people  and  brought  the  majority 
to  a  conviction  of  their  error  in  supporting  lioger 
Williams." 

The  platform  of  church  discipline  which  the 
Court  advised  in  1635-36  was  not  forthcoming, 

"  Roger  Williams  was  die  real  author  of  the  letters -which 
the  Salem  church  was  required  to  disclaim. 


LIBERTY  IN  CONNECTICUT  71 

and  the  matter  was  allowed  to  rest.a    In  1637, 
with  the  consent  of  the  General  Court,  a  synod 
of  elders  and  lay  delegates  from  all  the  New 
Ens-land  churches  was  called  to  harmonize  the 
discordant  factions  created  by  the  heated  Anti- 
nomian  controversy.   During  the  synod,  the  mag- 
istrates were  present  all  the  time  as  hearers,  and 
even  as  speakers,  but  not  as  members.  The  dan- 
gerous schism  was  ended  more  by  the  Court's 
banishment  of  Wheelwright  and  Mrs.  Hutchin- 
son, together  with  their  more  prominent  followers, 
than  by  the  work  of  the  synod.    However,  Gov- 
ernor Winthrop  was  so  delighted  with  the  con- 
ferences of  the  synod  that,  in  his  enthusiasm,  he 
suo-a-ested  that  it  would  be  fit  "  to  have  the  like 
meeting  once  a  year,  or  at  least  the  next  year,  to 
settle  what  yet  remained  to  be  agreed,  or  if  but 
to  nourish  love."32   But  his  suggestion  was  voted 
down,  for  the  Synod  of  1637  was  considered  by 
some  to  be  "a  perilous  deflection  from  the  theory 
of  Congregationalism."  »    Even  the  fortnightly 
meeting  of  ministers  who  resided  near  each  other, 
and  which  it  had  become  a  custom  to  call  for 
friendly  conference,  was  looked  at  askance  by 
those  b  who  feared  in  it  the  germ  of  some  authori- 

«  Upon  a  further  suggestion  from  the  General  Court,  John 
Cotton  prepared  a  catechism  entitled  Milk  for  Babes. 

b  Governor  Winthrop  replied  to  Dr.  Skelton's  objections 
that  "  no  church  or  person  could  have  authority  over  another 


72      THE   DEVELOPMENT  OF  RELIGIOUS 

tative  body  that  should  come  to  exercise  control 
over  the  individual  churches.  When  this  custom 
was  endorsed  and  permitted  in  the  "Body  of 
Liberties,"  in  1641,  the  assurance  that  these 
meetings  "  were  only  by  way  of  Brotherly  con- 
ference and  consultation  "  was  felt  to  be  neces- 
sary to  appease  the  opposition.  When,  two  and 
four  years  later,  Anabaptist  converts  and  a  flood 
of  Presbyterian  literature  called  for  measures  of 
repression,  and  the  Court  summoned  councils  to 
consult  upon  a  course  of  action,  it  was  most  care- 
fid  in  each  case  to  reassert  the  doctrine  of  the 
complete  independence  of  the  individual  church. 
Synods,  from  the  purely  Congregational  stand- 
point, were  to  be  called  only  upon  the  initiative 
of  the  churches,  and  were  authoritative  bodies, 
composed  of  both  ministerial  and  lay  delegates 
from  such  churches,  and  their  duty  was  to  confer 
and  advise  upon  matters  of  general  interest  or 
upon  special  problems.  In  cases  where  their  de- 
cisions were  unheeded,  they  could  enforce  their 
displeasure  at  the  contumacious  church  only  by 
cutting  it  off  from  fellowship.  Consequently, 
though  there  was  some  opposition  to  the  Court's 
calling  of  synods  and  a  resultant  general  restless- 
ness, there  was  none  when  the  Court  confined  its 

church."  —  See  H.  M.  Dexter,  Ecclesiastical  Councils  of  New 
Enyland,  p.  31 ;  Winthrop,  i.  p.  139. 


LIBERTY   IN   CONNECTICUT  73 

supervision  and  commands  to  individually  schis- 
matic churches  or  to  unruly  members.  The  time 
had  not  yet  come  for  the  recognition  of  what  this 
double  system  of  church  government  —  govern- 
ment by  its  members,  supervision  by  the  Court 
—  foreboded.  The  colonists  did  not  see  that 
within  it  was  the  embryo  of  an  authoritative  body 
exercising  some  of  the  powers  of  the  Presbyterian 
General  Assembly.  The  supervising  body  might 
be  composed  of  laymen  acting  in  their  capacity  as 
members  of  the  General  Court,  but  the  powers 
they  exercised  were  none  the  less  akin  to  the 
very  ones  that  Congregationalism  had  declared 
to  be  heretical  and  anti-Christian.  Moreover,  the 
tendency  was  toward  an  increase  of  this  authori- 
tative power  every  time  it  was  exercised  and  each 
time  that  the  colonists  submitted  to  its  dictation. 
Of  the  two  colonies  founded  after  Massachu- 
setts, Connecticut  and  New  Haven,  the  latter 
preserved  the  complete  independence  of  her 
original  church  until  the  admission  of  the  shore 
towns a  to  her  jurisdiction,  when  she  instituted 
that  friendly  oversight  of  the  churches  which 
had  begun  to  prevail  elsewhere.  Thereafter  her 
General  Court  kept  a  rigorous  oversight  over  the 
purity  of  her  churches  and  the  conduct  of  their 

a  Guilford,  Branford,  Milford,  Stamford,  on  the  mainland, 
and  Southold,  on  Long  Island. 


74      THE   DEVELOPMENT  OF  RELIGIOUS 

members.  The  General  Court  of  Connecticut 
early  compelled  a  recognition  of  its  authority a 
over  the  religious  life  of  the  people  and  its  right 
of  special  legislation.6  For  example,  in  1643,  the 
Court  demanded  of  the  Wethersfield  church  a  list 
of  the  grievances  which  disturbed  it.  In  the  next 
year,  when  Matthew  Allyn  petitioned  for  an  order 
to  the  Hartford  church,  commanding  the  reconsid- 

a  The  General  Court  was  head  of  the  churches.  "It  was 
more  than  Pope,  or  Pope  and  College  of  Cardinals,  for  it  ex- 
ercised all  authority,  civil  and  ecclesiastical.  In  matters  of 
discipline,  faith,  and  practice  there  was  no  appeal  from  its  de- 
cisions. Except  the  right  to  be  protected  in  their  orthodoxy 
the  churches  had  no  privileges  which  the  Court  did  not  confer, 
or  could  not  take  away."  — Bronson's  Early  Gov't,  in  Conn.  p. 
347,  in  N.  It.  Hist.  Soc.  Papers,  vol.  iii. 

b  On  August  18,  1658,  the  court  refused,  upon  complaint 
of  the  Wethersfield  church,  to  remove  Mr.  Russell.  In  March, 
1GG1,  after  duly  considering  the  matter,  the  court  allowed 
Mr.  Stow  to  sever  his  connection  with  the  church  of  Middle- 
town.  It  concerned  itself  with  the  strife  in  the  Windsor  church 
over  an  assistant  pastor  from  10G7  to  16S0.  It  allowed  the 
settlement  of  Woodbury  in  1672  because  of  dissatisfaction  with 
the  Stratford  church.  It  permitted  Stratford  to  divide  in  1669. 
These  are  but  a  few  instances  both  of  the  authority  of  the 
General  Court  over  individual  churches  and  of  that  discord 
which,  finding  its  strongest  expression  in  the  troubles  of  the 
Hartford  church,  not  only  rent  the  churches  of  Connecticut 
from  1050  to  1670,  but  "  insinuated  itself  into  all  the  affairs 
of  the  society,  towns,  and  the  whole  community."  Another 
illustration  of  the  court's  oversight  of  the  purity  of  religion 
was  its  investigation  in  1G70  into  the  "  soundness  of  the  minis- 
ter at  Rye."  For  these  and  hosts  of  similar  examples  see  index 
Conn.  Cul.  lite.  vols,  i,  ii,  iii,  and  iv. 


LIBERTY   IN   CONNECTICUT  75 

eration  of  its  sentence  of  excommunication  against 
him,  the  Court  "  adjudged  his  plea  an  accusation 
upon  the  church"  which  he  was  bound  to  prove. 
These  incidents  from  early  colonial  history  in 
some  measure  illustrate  the  practical  working  of 
the  theory  of  Church  and  State.  The  conviction 
that  the  State  should  support  one  form  of  reli- 
gion, and  only  one,  was  ever  present  to  the  colonial 
mind.  If  confirmation  of  its  worth  were  needed, 
one  had  only  to  glance  at  the  turmoil  of  the 
Rhode  Island  colony  experimenting  with  religious 
liberty  and  a  complete  separation  of  Church  and 
State.  Like  all  pioneers  and  reformers,  she  had 
gathered  elements  hard  to  control,  and  would-be 
citizens  neither  peaceable  nor  reasonable  in  their 
interpretation  of  the  new  range  of  freedom. 
Watching  Rhode  Island,  the  Congregational  men 
of  New  England  hugged  more  tightly  the  con- 
viction that  their  method  was  best,  and  that  any 
variation  from  it  would  work  havoc.  It  was  this 
theory  and  this  conviction,  ever  present  in  their 
minds,  that  underlay  all  ecclesiastical  laws,  all 
special  legislation  with  reference  to  churches,  to 
their  members,  or  to  public  fasts  and  thanksgiv- 
ings. This  deep-rooted  conviction  created  hatred 
toward  and  fear  of  all  schismatical  doctrines, 
enmity  toward  all  dissenting  sects,  and  opposition 
to  any  tolerance  of  them. 


CHAPTER   IV 

THE    CAMBRIDGE    PLATFORM    AND    THE    HALF- 
WAY  COVENANT 

It  is  always  right  that  a  man  should  be  able  to  render  a 
reason  for  the  faith  that  is  within  him.  — Sydney  Smith. 

In  each  of  the  New  England  colonies  under  con- 
sideration, the  settlers  organized  their  church 
system  and  established  its  relation  to  the  State, 
expecting  that  the  strong  arm  of  the  temporal 
power  would  insure  stability  and  harmony  in 
both  religious  and  civil  life.  As  we  know,  they 
were  speedily  doomed  to  disappointment.  As  we 
have  seen,  they  failed  to  estimate  the  influences 
of  the  new  land,  where  freedom  from  the  re- 
straint of  an  older  civilization  bred  new  ideas 
and  estimates  of  the  liberty  that  should  be  ac- 
corded men.  Within  the  first  decade  Massachu- 
setts had  great  difficulty  in  impressing  religious 
uniformity  upon  her  rapidly  increasing  and  heter- 
ogeneous population.  She  found  coercion  diffi- 
cult, costly,  dangerous  to  her  peace,  and  to  her 
reputation  when  the  oppressed  found  favorable 
ears  in  England  to  listen  to  their  woes.    Ecclesi- 


RELIGIOUS   LIBERTY  IN  CONNECTICUT   77 

astical  differences  of  less  magnitude,  contempo- 
rary in  time  and  foreshadowing  discontent  and 
opposition  to  the  established  order  of  Church 
and  State,  were  settled  in  more  quiet  ways. 
John  Davenport,  after  witnessing  the  Antino- 
mian  controversy,  declined  the  pressing  hospi- 
tality of  Massachusetts,  and  led  his  New  Haven 
company  far  enough  afield  to  avoid  theological 
entanglements  or  disputed  points  of  church 
polity.  Unimpeded,  they  would  make  their  in- 
tended experiment  in  statecraft  and  build  their 
strictly  scriptural  republic.  Still  earlier  Thomas 
Hooker,  Samuel  Stone,  and  John  Warham  led 
the  Connecticut  colonists  into  the  wilderness  be- 
cause they  foresaw  contention,  strife,  and  evil  days 
before  them  if  they  were  to  be  forced  to  conform 
to  the  strict  policy  of  Massachusetts.0  They  pre- 
ferred, unhindered,  to  plant  and  water  the  young 
vine  of  a  more  democratic  commonwealth.  And 
even  as  Massachusetts  met  with  large  troubles  of 

a  Among  the  causes  assigned  for  the  removal  of  the  Con- 
necticut colonists  were  the  discontent  at  Watertown  over  the 
high-handed  silencing  by  the  Boston  authorities  of  Pastor 
Phillips  and  Teacher  Brown  for  daring  to  assert  that  the 
"  churches  of  Rome  were  true  churches  ;  "  the  early  attempt 
of  the  authorities  to  impose  a  general  tax ;  the  continued  op- 
position to  Ludlow ;  their  desire  to  oppose  the  Dutch  seizure 
of  the  fertile  valley  of  the  Connecticut ;  their  want  of  space 
in  the  Bay  Colony ;  and  the  "  strong  bent  of  their  spirits  to 
remove  thither,"  i.  e.  to  Connecticut. 


78      THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  RELIGIOUS 

her  own,  so  smaller  ones  beset  these  other  colo- 
nies in  their  endeavor  to  preserve  uniformity  of 
religious  faith  and  practice.  Until  1656,  outside 
of  Massachusetts,  sectarianism  barely  lifted  its 
head.  Keligious  contumacy  was  due  to  varying 
opinions  as  to  what  should  be  the  rule  of  the 
churches  and  the  privileges  of  their  members. 
As  the  churches  held  theoretically  that  each  was 
a  complete,  independent,  and  self-governing  unit, 
their  practice  and  teaching  concerning  their 
powers  and  duties  began  to  show  considerable 
variation.  Such  variation  was  unsatisfactory,  and 
so  decidedly  so  that  the  leaders  of  opinion  in  the 
four  colonies  early  began  to  feel  the  need  of  some 
common  platform,  some  authoritative  standard 
of  church  government,  such  as  was  agreed  upon 
later  in  the  Cambridge  Platform  of  1648  and 
in  the  Half-Way  Covenant,  a  still  later  exposi- 
tion or  modification  of  Certain  points  in  the  Plat- 
form. 

The  need  for  the  Platform  arose,  also,  from 
two  other  causes :  one  purely  colonial,  and  the 
other  Anglo-colonial.  The  first  was,  since  every- 
body had  to  attend  public  worship,  the  presence 
in  the  congregations  of  outsiders  as  distinct  from 
church  members.  These  outsiders  demanded 
broader  terms  of  admission  to  holy  privileges 
and  comforts.    The  second  cause,  Anglo-colonial 


LIBERTY  IN  CONNECTICUT  79 

in  nature,  arose  from  the  inter-communion  of 
colonial  and  English  Puritan  churches  and  from 
the  strength  of  the  politico-ecclesiastical  parties 
in  England.  Whatever  the  outcome  there,  the 
consequences  to  colonial  life  of  the  rapidly  ap- 
proaching climax  in  England,  when,  as  we  now 
know,  King  was  to  give  way  to  Commonwealth 
and  Presbyterianism  find  itself  subordinate  to 
Independency,  would  be  tremendous. 

In  the  first  twenty  years  of  colonial  life,  great 
changes  had  come  over  New  England.  Many 
men  of  honest  and  Christian  character  —  "  sober 
persons  who  professed  themselves  desirous  of 
renewing  their  baptismal  covenant,  and  submit 
unto  church  discipline,  but  who  were  unable  to 
come  up  to  that  experimental  account  of  their 
own  regeneration  which  would  sufficiently  em- 
bolden their  access  to  the  other  sacrament " 
(communion)  34  —  felt  that  the  early  church 
regulations,  possible  only  in  small  communities 
where  each  man  knew  his  fellow,  had  been  out- 
grown, and  that  their  retention  favored  the 
growth  of  hypocrisy.  The  exacting  oversight  of 
the  churches  in  their  "  watch  and  ward  "  over 
their  members  was  unwelcome,  and  would  not  be 
submitted  to  by  many  strangers  who  were  flock- 
ing into  the  colonies.  The  "  experimental  ac- 
count "  of  religion  demanded,  as  of  old,  a  public 


80      THE   DEVELOPMENT  OF  RELIGIOUS 

declaration  or  confession  of  the  manner  in  which 
conviction  of  sinfulness  had  come  to  each  one ; 
of  the  desire  to  put  evil  aside  and  to  live  in 
accordance  with  God's  commands  as  expressed 
in  Scripture  and  through  the  church  to  which  the 
repentant  one  promised  obedience.  This  public 
confession  was  a  fundamental  of  Congregation- 
alism. Other  religious  bodies  have  copied  it; 
but  at  the  birth  of  Congregationalism,  and  for 
centuries  afterwards,  the  bulk  of  European 
churches,  like  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church 
to-day,  regarded  "  Christian  piety  more  as  a 
habit  of  life,  formed  under  the  training  of  child- 
hood, and  less  as  a  marked  spiritual  change  in 
experience."  35 

It  followed  that  while  many  of  the  newcomers 
in  the  colonies  were  indifferent  to  religion,  by 
far  the  larger  number  were  not,  and  thought 
that,  as  they  had  been  members  of  the  English 
Established  Church,  they  ought  to  be  admitted 
into  full  membership  in  the  churches  of  Eng- 
land's colonies.  They  felt,  moreover,  that  the 
religious  training  of  their  children  was  being 
neglected  because  the  New  England  churches 
ignored  the  child  whose  parents  would  not,  or 
could  not,  submit  to  their  terms  of  membership. 
Still  more  strongly  did  these  people  feel  neglected 
and  dissatisfied  when,  as  the  years  went  by,  more 


LIBERTY  IN  CONNECTICUT  81 

and  more  of  them  were  emigrants  who  had  been 
acceptable  members  of  the  Puritan  churches  in 
England.  They  continued  to  be  refused  religious 
privileges  because  New  England  Congregation- 
alism doubted  the  scriptural  validity  of  letters 
of  dismissal  from  churches  where  the  discipline 
and  church  order  varied  from  its  own.  Within 
the  membership  of  the  New  England  churches 
themselves,  there  was  great  uncertainty  concern- 
ing several  church  privileges,  as,  for  instance, 
how  far  infant  baptism  carried  with  it  partici- 
pation in  church  sacraments,  and  whether  adults, 
baptized  in  infancy,  who  had  failed  to  unite  with 
the  church  by  signing  the  Covenant,  could  have 
their  children  baptized  into  the  church.  Con- 
siderations of  church-membership  and  baptism, 
for  which  the  Cambridge  Synod  of  1648  was 
summoned,  were  destined,  because  of  political 
events  in  England,  to  be  thrust  aside  and  to 
wait  another  eight  years  for  their  solution  in 
that  conference  which  framed  the  Half- Way 
Covenant  as  supplementary  to  the  Cambridge 
Platform  of  faith  and  discipline. 

What  has  been  termed  the  Anglo-colonial 
cause  for  summoning  the  Cambridge  Synod  finds 
explanation  in  the  frequent  questions  and  de- 
mands which  English  Independency  put  to  the 
New  England  churches  concerning  church  usage 


82      THE   DEVELOPMENT   OF  RELIGIOUS 

and  discipline,  and  in  the  intense  interest  with 
which  New  England  waited  the  outcome  of  the 
constitutional  struggle  in  England  between 
King  and  Parliament. 

When  the  great  controversy  broke  out  in  Eng- 
land between  Presbyterians  and  Independents, 
the  fortunes  of  Massachusetts  (who  felt  every 
wave  of  the  struggle)  and  of  New  England  were 
in  the  balance.  Presbyterians  in  England  pro- 
claimed the  doctrine  of  church  unity,  and  of 
coercion  if  necessary,  to  procure  it ;  the  Inde- 
pendents, the  doctrine  of  toleration.  Puritans, 
inclining  to  Presbyterianism,  were  disturbed  over 
reports  from  the  colonies,  and  letters  of  inquiry 
were  sent  and  answers  returned  explaining  that, 
while  the  internal  polity  of  the  New  England 
churches  was  not  far  removed  from  Presbyteri- 
anism, they  differed  widely  from  the  Presby- 
terian standard  as  to  a  national  church  and  as 
to  the  power  of  synods  over  churches,  and  that 
they  also  held  to  a  much  larger  liberty  in  the 
right  of  each  church  to  appoint  its  officers  and 
control  its  own  internal  affairs.  At  the  opening 
of  the  Long  Parliament  (1640-1644),  many 
emigrants  had  returned  to  England  from  the 
colonies,  and,  under  the  leadership  of  the  influ- 
ential Hugh  Peters,  had  given  such  an  impetus 
to  English  thought  that  the  Independent  party 


LIBERTY  IN  CONNECTICUT  83 

rose  to  political  importance  and  made  popular 
the  "  New  England  Way."  °  The  success  of  the 
Independents  brought  relief  to  Massachusetts, 
yet  it  was  tinctured  with  apprehension  lest 
"  toleration  "  should  be  imposed  upon  her.  The 
signing  of  the  "  League  and  Covenant "  with 
England  in  1643  by  Scotland,  the  oath  of  the 
Commons  to  support  it,  and  the  pledge  "to 
bring  the  churches  of  God  in  the  three  King- 
doms to  the  nearest  conjunction  and  uniformity 
in  religion,  confession  of  faith,  form  of  church 
government  and  catechizing  "  (including  punish- 
ment of  malignants  and  opponents  of  reforma- 
tion in  Church  and  State),  carried  menace  to 
the  colonies  and  to  Massachusetts  in  particular. 
The  supremacy  of  Scotch  or  English  Noncon- 
formity meant  a  severity  toward  any  variation 

a  The  New  England  Way  discarded  the  liturgy;  refused 
to  accept  the  sacrament  or  join  in  prayer  after  such  an  ' '  anti- 
Christian  form ;  "  limited  communion  to  church  members 
approved  by  New  England  standards,  or  coming  with  creden- 
tials from  churches  similarly  approved  ;  limited  the  ministerial 
office,  outside  the  pastor's  own  church,  to  prayer  and  confer- 
ence, denying  all  authority ;  and  assumed  as  the  right  of  each 
church  the  power  of  elections,  admissions,  dismissals,  censures, 
and  excommunications.  The  result,  in  that  day  of  intense 
championship  of  religious  polity  and  custom,  was  to  create 
disturbance  and  discord  among  the  English  Independent 
churches.  The  correspondence  between  the  divines  of  New 
England  and  old  England  was  in  part  to  avoid  the  ' '  breaking 
up  of  churches." 


84      THE   DEVELOPMENT  OF  RELIGIOUS 

from  its  Presbyterianism  as  great  as  Laud  had 
exercised.0 

In  1643  Parliament  convened  one  hundred 
and  fifty  members  b  in  the  Westminster  Assem- 
bly to  plan  the  reform  of  the  Church  of  Eng- 
land.    Their  business  was  to  formulate  a  Con- 

«  J.  R.  Green,  Short  Hist,  of  the  English  People,  534-538.  The 
great  popular  signing  of  the  Covenant  in  Scotland  was  in  1638. 

b  The  original  intention,  in  1642,  in  regard  to  the  composi- 
tion of  the  Westminster  Assembly  was  to  have  noted  divines 
from  abroad.  It  was  proposed  to  invite  Rev.  John  Cotton, 
Thomas  Hooker,  and  John  Davenport  from  New  England. 
Rev.  Thomas  Hooker  thought  the  subject  was  not  one  of 
sufficient  ecclesiastical  importance  for  so  long  and  difficult  a 
journey,  while  the  Rev.  John  Davenport  could  not  be  spared 
because  of  the  absence  of  other  church  officers  from  New 
Haven.  —  H.  M.  Dexter,  Congr.  as  seen,  etc.,  p.  653. 

Congregationalists  or  Independents  in  the  sittings  of  the 
Assembly  pleaded  for  liberty  of  conscience  to  all  sects,  "  pro- 
vided that  they  did  not  trouble  the  public  peace."  (Later, 
Congregationalists  differentiated  themselves  from  the  Inde- 
pendents by  adding  to  the  principle  of  the  independence  of 
the  local  church  the  principle  of  the  local  sisterhood  of  the 
churches.)  In  the  Assembly,  averaging  sixty  or  eighty  mem- 
bers, Congregationalism  was  represented  by  but  five  influen- 
tial divines  and  a  few  of  lesser  importance.  There  were  also 
among  the  members  some  thirty  laymen.  The  Assembly 
held  eleven  hundred  and  sixty-three  sittings,  continuing  for 
a  period  of  five  years  and  six  months.  During  these  years  the 
Civil  War  was  fought ;  the  King  executed  ;  the  Commonwealth 
established  with  its  modified  state-church,  Presbyterian  in 
character.  Intolerance  was  held  in  check  by  the  power  of 
Cromwell  and  of  the  army,  for  the  Independents  had  made 
early  and  successful  efforts  to  win  the  soldiery  to  their  stan- 
dard. —  Philip  Schaff ,  Creeds  of  Christendom,  727-820. 


LIBERTY  IN  CONNECTICUT  85 

fession  which  should  dictate  to  all  Englishmen 
what  they  should  believe  and  how  express  it, 
and  should  also  define  a  Church,  which,  preserv- 
ing the  inherent  English  idea  of  its  relation  to 
the  State,  should  bear  a  close  likeness  to  the 
Keformed  churches  of  the  Continent  and  yet 
approach  as  nearly  as  possible  both  to  the  then 
Church  of  Scotland  and  to  the  English  Church 
of  the  time  of  Elizabeth.  The  work  of  this  as- 
sembly, known  as  the  Westminster  Confession, 
demonstrated  to  the  New  England  colonists  the 
weakness  of  their  church  system  and  the  need 
among  them  of  religious  unity ,a 

Many  among  the  colonists  doubted  the  advisa- 
bility of  a  church  platform,  considering  it  per- 
missible as  a  declaration  of  faith,  but  of  doubtful 
value  if  its  articles  were  to  be  authoritative  as  a 
binding  rule  of  faith  and  practice  without  "  add- 
ing, altering,  or  omitting."  Men  of  this  mind 
waited  for  controversial  writings,6   to  clear  up 

«  W.  Walker,  Creeds  and  Platforms,  p.  136,  note  2. 

6  The  New  England  Way  defended  its  changes  from  Eng- 
lish custom  under  three  heads :  (1)  That  things,  inexpedient 
hut  not  utterly  unlawful  in  England,  became  under  changed 
conditions  sinful  in  New  England.  (2)  Things  tolerated  in 
England,  because  unremovable,  were  shameful  in  the  new  land 
where  they  were  removable.  (3)  Many  things,  upon  mature 
deliberation  and  tried  by  Scripture,  were  found  to  be  sinful. 
But :  ' '  W«  profess  unf eignedly  we  separate  from  the  corrup- 
tions, which  we  conceive  to  be  left  in  your  Churches,  and 


86     THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  RELIGIOUS 

misconception  and  misrepresentation  in  England, 
but  they  waited  in  vain.  Moreover,  the  Puritan 
Board  of  Commissioners  for  Plantations  of  1643 
threatened  as  close  an  oversight  and  as  rigid 
control  of  colonial  affairs  from  a  Presbyterian 
Parliament  as  had  been  feared  from  the  King. 

from  such  Ordinances  administered  therein  as  we  feare  are 
not  of  God  but  of  men  ;  and  for  yourselves,  we  are  so  farre 
from  separating-  as  visible  Christians  as  that  you  are  under 
God  in  our  hearts  (if  the  Lord  would  suffer  it)  to  live  and 
die  together ;  and  we  look  at  sundrie  of  you  as  men  of  that 
eminent  growth  in  Christiauitie,  that  if  there  be  any  visible 
Christians  under  heaven,  amongst  you  are  the  men,  which  for 
tbese  many  years  have  been  written  in  your  forehead  ( '  Holi- 
ness to  the  Lord  ' ) :  and  this  is  not  to  the  disparagement  of  our- 
selves or  our  practice,  for  we  believe  that  the  Church  moves 
on  from  age  to  age,  its  defects  giving  way  to  increasing  purity 
from  reformation  to  reformation."  —  J.  Davenport,  The  Epistle 
Beturned,  or  the  Answer  to  the  Letter  of  Many  Ministers. 

A  number  of  treatises  upon  church  government  and  usage 
were  printed  in  the  memorable  year  1643,  several  of  which 
had  previously  circulated  in  manuscript.  In  1637  was  re- 
ceived the  Letter  of  Many  Ministers  in  Old  England,  request- 
ing the  Judgment  of  their  Reverend  Brethren  in  New  England 
and  concerning  Nine  Positions.  It  was  answered  by  John 
Davenport  in  1639.  A  Beply  and  Answer  was  also  a  part  of 
this  correspondence,  which  was  first  published  in  1643,  as 
was  also  Richard  Mather's  Church  Government  and  Church  Cov- 
enant Discussed,  the  latter  being  a  reply  to  Two  and  Thirty 
Questions  sent  from  England.  By  these,  together  with  J. 
Cotton's  Keyes  and  other  writings,  and  by  Thomas  Hooker's 
great  work  Survey  of  the  Summe  of  Church  Discipline  (approved 
by  the  Synod  of  1643),  every  aspect  of  church  polity  and 
usage  was  covered. 


LIBERTY   IN   CONNECTICUT  87 

Furthermore,  a  Presbyterian  cabal  in  Plymouth 
and  Massachusetts,  1644-1646,  gathered  to  it 
the  discontent  of  large  numbers  of  unfranchised 
residents  within  the  latter  colony,  and  under 
threat  of  an  appeal  to  Parliament  boldly  asked 
for  the  ballot  and  for  church  privileges.  In  view 
of  these  developments,  nearly  all  the  colonial 
churches,  though  with  some  hesitation,  united 
in  the  Synod  of  Cambridge,  which  was  origi- 
nally called  for  the  year  1646. 

In  the  calling  of  the  synod  Massachusetts 
took  the  lead.  Several  years  before,  in  1643, 
the  four  colonies  of  Plymouth,  Massachusetts, 
Connecticut,  and  New  Haven  had  united  in  the 
New  England  Confederacy,  or  "  Confederacy  of 
the  United  Colonies,"  for  mutual  advantage  in  re- 
sisting the  encroachments  of  the  Dutch,  French, 
and  Indians,  and  for  "  preserving  and  propagat- 
ing the  truth  and  liberties  of  the  gospel."  In 
the  confederacy,  Massachusetts  and  Connecticut 
soon  became  the  leaders.  Considering  how  much 
more  strongly  the  former  felt  the  pulsations  of 
English  political  life,  and  how  active  were  the 
Massachusetts  divines  as  expositors  of  the  "  New 
England  way  of  the  churches,"  the  Bay  Colony 
naturally  took  the  initiative  in  calling  the  Cam- 
bridge Synod.  But  mindful  of  the  opposition 
to  her  previous  autocratic  summons,  her  General 


88      THE   DEVELOPMENT  OF  RELIGIOUS 

Court  framed  its  call  as  a  "  desire  "  that  minis- 
terial, together  with  lay  delegates,  from  all  the 
churches  of  New  England  should  meet  at  Cam- 
bridge. There,  representing  the  churches,  and 
in  accordance  with  the  earliest  teachings  of  Con- 
gregationalism, they  were  to  meet  in  synod  "  for 
sisterly  advice  and  counsel."  They  were  to  for- 
mulate the  practice  of  the  churches  in  regard 
to  baptism  and  adult  privileges,  and  to  do  so 
"  for  the  confirming  of  the  weak  among  ourselves 
and  the  stopping  of  the  mouths  of  our  adversa- 
ries abroad."  During  the  two  years  of  unavoid- 
able delay  before  the  synod  met  in  final  session, 
these  topics,  which  were  expected  to  be  foremost 
in  the  conference,  were  constantly  in  the  public 
mind.  Through  this  wide  discussion,  the  long 
delay  brought  much  good.  It  brought  also  mis- 
fortune in  the  death  of  Thomas  Hooker  in  1647, 
and  by  it  loss  of  one  of  the  great  lights  and 
most  liberal  minds  in  the  proposed  conference. 
Nearly  all   the   colonial  churches a  were  repre- 

a  Hingham  church  preferred  the  Presbyterian  way.  Con- 
cord was  absent,  lacking  a  fit  representative.  Boston  and  Sa- 
lem at  first  refused  to  attend,  questioning  the  General  Court's 
right  to  summon  a  synod  and  fearing  lest  such  a  summons 
should  involve  the  obedience  of  all  the  represented  churches  to 
the  decisions  of  the  conference.  The  modification  of  the  sum- 
mons to  the  "  desire  "  of  the  court,  and  the  entreaty  of  their 
leaders,  finally  overcame  the  opposition  in  these  churches.    In 


LIBERTY  IN  CONNECTICUT  89 

sented  in  the  synod.  When,  during  its  session, 
news  was  received  that  Cromwell  was  supreme 
in  England,  its  members  turned  from  the  dis- 
cussion of  baptism  and  church-membership  to  a 
consideration  of  what  should  be  the  constitution 
of  the  churches.  The  supremacy  of  Cromwell 
and  of  the  Independents  who  filled  his  armies 
cleared  the  political  background.  All  danger  of 
enforced  Presbyterianism  was  over.  The  strength 
of  the  Presbyterian  malcontents,  who  had  sought 
to  bring  Massachusetts  and  New  England  into 
disrepute  in  England,  was  broken.  Since  the 
colonists  were  free  to  order  their  religious  life  as 
they  pleased,  the  Cambridge  Synod  turned  aside 
from  its  purposed  task  to  formulate  a  larger 
platform  of  faith  and  polity. 

When  the  Cambridge  Synod  adjourned,  the 
orthodoxy  of  the  New  England  churches  could 
not  be  impugned.  In  all  matters  of  faith  "  for 
the  substance  thereof  "  they  accepted  the  West- 
fact,  delegates  to  the  Court,  representing  at  least  thirty  or 
forty  churches,  had  hesitated  to  accept  the  original  summons 
of  the  Court  when  reported  as  a  hill  for  calling  the  synod. 
Although  the  Court  "  made  no  question  of  their  lawful  power 
hy  the  word  of  God  to  assemble  the  churches,  or  their  mes- 
sengers upon  occasion  of  counsell,  or  anything  which  may 
concern  the  practice  of  the  churches,"  it  decided  to  modify 
the  phrasing  of  the  order.  —  H.  M.  Dexter,  Congr.  as  seen, 
p.  436.  Magnalia,  ii,  209.  Mass.  Col.  Bee.  ii,  154-156,  also 
iii,  70-73. 


90     THE   DEVELOPMENT  OF  RELIGIOUS 

minster  Confession  of  Faith,  but  from  its  mea- 
sures of  government  and  discipline  they  differed.3 
This  Cambridge  Platform  was  more  important 
as  recognizing  the  independence  of  the  churches 
and  the  authority  of  custom  among  them  than  as 
formulating  a  creed.  It  governed  the  New  Eng- 
land churches  for  sixty  years,  or  until  Massachu- 
setts and  Connecticut  Congregationalism  came 
to  the  parting  of  the  way,  whence  one  was  to 
develop  its  associated  system  of  church  govern- 
ment, and  the  other  its  consociated  system  as  set 
forth  in  the  Saybrook  Platform,  formulated  at 
Saybrook,  Connecticut,  in  1708.  Meanwhile,  the 
Cambridge  Platform b  gave  all  the  New  England 

°  "  This  Synod  having  perused  with  much  gladness  of  heart 
the  confession  of  faith  published  by  the  late  reverend  assembly 
in  England,  do  judge  it  to  be  very  holy,  orthodox  and  judicious, 
in  all  matters  of  faith,  and  do  hereby  freely  and  fully  consent 
thereto  for  the  substance  thereof.  Only  in  those  things  which 
have  respect  to  church-government  and  discipline,  we  refer 
ourselves  to  the  Platform  of  Church-discipline,  agreed  upon 
by  this  present  assembly." — Preface  to  the  Cambridge  Plat- 
form, quoted  in  W.  Walker,  Creeds  and  Platforms,  p.  195. 

6  In  many  parts  the  wording  of  the  Platform  is  almost  iden- 
tical with  passages  from  the  foremost  ecclesiastical  treatises 
of  the  period,  and,  naturally,  since  John  Cotton,  Richard 
Mather,  and  Ralph  Partridge  were  each  requested  to  draft  a 
"Scriptural  Model  of  Church  Government."  The  Platform 
conformed  most  closely  to  that  of  Richard  Mather.  The  draft 
by  Ralph  Partridge  of  Plymouth  still  exists.  Obviously,  the 
Separatist  clergyman  did  not  emphasize  so  strongly  the  rule 
of  the  eldership  which  New  England  church  life  in  general  had 


LIBERTY  IN  CONNECTICUT  91 

churches  a  standard  by  which  to  regulate  their 
practice  and  to  resist  change." 

A  study  of  the  Platform  yields  the  following 
brief  summary  of  its  cardinal  points  :  — 

(a)  The  Congregational  church  is  not  "  Na- 
tional, Provincial  or  Classical,"  b  but  is  a  church 
of  a  covenanted  brotherhood,  wherein  each  mem- 
ber makes  public  acknowledgment  of  spiritual 
regeneration  and  declares  his  purpose  to  submit 
himself  to  the  ordinances  of  God  and  of  his 
church.0  A  slight  concession  was  made  to  the 
liberal  church  party  and  to  the  popular  demand 
for  broader  terms  of  membership  in  the  pro- 
vision for  those  of  "the  weakest  measure  of 
faith,"  and  in  the  substitution  of  a  written  ac- 
count of  their  Christian  experience  by  those  who 
were  ill  or  timid.  This  written  "  experimental 
account "  was  to  be  read  to  the  church  by  one 
of   the  elders.    In  the  words  of  the  Platform, 

developed.  Otherwise  his  plan  did  not  differ  essentially  from 
that  of  Mather. 

a  "  Even  now,  after  a  lapse  of  more  than  two  hundred  years 
the  Platform  (notwithstanding-  its  errors  here  and  there  in  the 
application  of  proof  texts,  and  its  one  great  error  in  regard 
to  the  power  of  the  civil  magistrate  in  matters  of  religion)  is 
the  most  authentic  exposition  of  the  Congregational  church  as 
given  in  the  scriptures."  —  Leonard  Bacon,  in  Contributions  to 
the  Ecclesiastical  History  of  Connecticut,  ed.  of  1865,  p.  15. 

b  Cambridge  Platform,  chap.  ii. 

c  Ibid.  chap.  ii. 


92      THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  RELIGIOUS 

"  Such  charity  and  tenderness  is  to  be  used,  as 
the  weakest  Christian  if  sincere,  may  not  be  ex- 
cluded or  discouraged.  Severity  of  examination 
is  to  be  avoided."  a 

(b)  The  officers  of  the  church  are  elders  and 
deacons,  the  former  including,  as  of  old,  pastors, 
teachers,  and  ruling  elders.  That  the  authority 
within  the  church  had  passed  from  the  unre- 
strained democracy  of  the  early  Plymouth  Sepa- 
ratists to  a  silent  democracy  before  the  command 
of  a  speaking  aristocracy6  is  witnessed  to  by  the 
Platform's  declaration  that  "  power  of  office  "  is 
proper  to  the  elders,  while  "power  of  privilege"  c 
belongs  to  the  brethren.  In  other  words,  the 
brethren  or  membership  have  a  "  second "  and 
"  indirect  power,"  according  to  which  they  are 
privileged  to  elect  their  elders.  Thereafter  those 
officers  possess  the  "  direct  power,"  or  author- 
ity, to  govern  the  church  as  they  see  fit.d    In  the 

a  Cambridge  Platform,  chap.  iii. 

b  The  definition  of  the  rule  of  the  elders,  given  by  the  Rev. 
Samuel  Stone  of  Hartford,  was  "  A  speaking  aristocracy  in 
the  face  of  a  silent  democracy." 

c  Cambridge  Platform,  chaps,  iv-x. 

d  "  We  do  believe  that  Christ  hath  ordained  that  there 
should  be  a  Presbytery  or  Eldership  and  that  in  every  Church, 
whose  work  is  to  teach  and  rule  the  Church  by  the  Word  and 
laws  of  Christ  and  unto  whom  so  teaching  and  ruling,  all  the 
people  ought  to  be  obedient  and  submit  themselves.  And 
therefore  a  Government  merely  Popular  or  Democratical  .  .  . 
is  far  from  the  practice  of  these  Churches  and  we  believe  far 


LIBERTY  IN  CONNECTICUT  93 

matter  of  admission,  dismission,  censure,  excom- 
munication, or  re-admission  of  members,  the 
brotherhood  of  the  church  may  express  their 
opinion  by  vote.0  In  cases  of  censure  and  ex- 
communication, the  Platform  specifies  that  the 
offender  could  be  made  to  suffer  only  through 
deprivation  of  his  church  rights  and  not  through 
any  loss  of  his  civil  ones.&  In  the  discussion  of 
this  point,  the  more  liberal  policy  of  Connecticut 
and  Plymouth  prevailed. 

(c)  In  regard  to  pastors  and  teachers,  the 
Platform  affirms  that  they  are  such  only  by 
the  right  of  election  and  remain  such  only  so 

from  the  mind  of  Christ."  However,  the  brethren  should  not 
be  wholly  excluded  from  its  government  or  its  liberty  to 
choose  its  officers,  admit  members  and  censure  offenders.  — 
R.  Mather,  Church  Government  and  Church  Covenant  Discussed, 
pp.  47-50. 

"  The  Gospel  alloweth  no  Church  authority  or  rule  ( properly 
so  called)  to  the  Brethren  but  reserveth  that  wholly  to  the 
Elders  ;  and  yet  preventeth  tyrannee,  and  oligarchy,  and  ex- 
orbitancy of  the  Elders  by  the  large  and  firm  establishment  of 
the  liberties  of  the  Brethren." — J.  Cotton,  The  Keys  of  the 
Kingdom  of  Heaven,  p.  12. 

"  In  regard  to  Christ,  the  head,  the  government  of  the 
Church,  is  sovereign  and  Monarchicall :  In  regard  to  the  rule 
of  the  Presbytery,  it  is  stewardly  and  Aristocraticall :  In  regard 
to  the  people's  power  in  elections  and  censures,  it  is  Demo- 
craticall."  —  The  Keys,  p.  36 ;  see  also  Church-Government  and 
Church  Covenant,  pp.  51-53. 

a  Cambridge  Platform,  chap.  x. 

6  Ibid.  chap.  xiv. 


94      THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  RELIGIOUS 

long  as  they  preside  over  the  church  by  which 
they  were  elected." 

Their  ordination  after  election,  as  well  as  that 
of  the  ruling  elders  and  deacons,  is  to  be  by  the 
laying  on  of  hands  of  the  elders  of  the  church 
electing  them.  In  default  of  elders,  this  ordina- 
tion is  to  be  by  the  hands  of  brethren  whom  be- 
cause of  their  exemplary  lives  the  church  shall 
choose  to  perform  the  rite.6  A  new  provision  was 
also  made,  one  leaning  toward  Presbyterianism, 
whereby  elders  of  other  churches  could  perform 
this  ceremony,  "  when  there  were  no  elders  and 
the  church  so  desired." 

(d)  Church  maintenance,  amounting  to  a 
church  tax,  was  insisted  upon  not  only  from 
church-members  but  from  all,  since  "  all  that  are 
taught  in  the  word,  are  to  contribute  unto  him 
that  teacheth."  If  necessary,  because  corrupt 
men  creep  into  the  congregations  and  church 
contributions  cannot  be  collected,  the  magistrate 
is  to  see  to  it  that  the  church  does  not  suffer.0 

(e)  The  Platform  defined  the  intercommun- 
ion of  the  churches d  upon  such  broad  lines  as 
to  admit  of  sympathetic  fellowship  even  when 
slight  differences  existed  in  local  customs.  In 
so    important  a    matter  as  when  an   offending 

a  Cambridge  Platform,  chap.  ix.  b  Ibid.  chap.  ix. 

c  Ibid.  chap.  xi.  (l  Ibid.  chap.  xv. 


LIBERTY  IN  CONNECTICUT  95 

elder  was  to  be  removed,  consultation  with  other 
churches  was  commanded  before  action  should 
be  taken  against  him.  The  intercommunion  of 
churches  was  defined  as  of  various  kinds :  as  for 
mutual  welfare  ;  for  sisterly  advice  and  consulta- 
tion, in  cases  of  public  offense,  where  the  offending 
church  was  unconscious  of  fault ;  for  recom- 
mendation of  members  going  from  one  church  to 
another  ;  for  need,  relief,  or  succor  of  unfortunate 
churches ;  and  "  by  way  of  propagation,"  when 
over-populous  churches  were  to  be  divided. 

(f)  Concerning  synods,a  the  Platform  asserts 
that  they  are  "  necessary  to  the  well-being  of 
churches  for  the  establishment  of  truth  and 
peace  therein  ; "  that  they  are  to  consist  of  elders, 
or  ministerial  delegates,  and  also  of  lay  delegates, 
or  "  messengers ;  "  that  their  function  is  to  de- 
termine controversies  over  questions  of  faith,  to 
debate  matters  of  general  interest,  to  guide  and 
to  express  judgment  upon  churches,  "rent  by 
discord  or  lying  under  open  scandal."  Synods 
could  be  called  by  the  churches,  and  also  by  the 
magistrates  through  an  order  to  the  churches  to 
send  their  elders  and  messengers,  but  they  were 
not  to  be  permanent  bodies.  On  the  contrary, 
unlike  the  synods  of  the  Presbyterian  system, 
they  were  to  be  disbanded  when  the  work  of  the 

a  Cambridge  Platform,  chap.  xvi. 


96      THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  RELIGIOUS 

special  session  for  which  they  were  summoned 
was  finished.  Moreover,  they  were  not  "  to  ex- 
ercise church  censure  in  the  way  of  discipline 
nor  any  other  act  of  authority  or  jurisdiction ; " 
yet  their  judgments  were  to  be  received,  "  so  far 
as  consonant  to  the  word  of  God,"  since  they 
were  judged  to  be  an  ordinance  of  God  appointed 
in  his  Word. 

(g)  The  Platform's  section  "Of  the  Civil 
Magistrate  in  matters  Ecclesiastical  "  a  maintains 
that  magistrates  cannot  compel  subjects  to  be- 
come church-members;  that  they  ought  not  to 
meddle  with  the  proper  work  of  officers  of  the 
churches,  but  that  they  ought  to  see  to  it  that 
godliness  is  upheld,  and  the  decrees  of  the  church 
obeyed.  To  accomplish  these  ends,  they  should 
exert  all  the  civil  authority  intrusted  to  them, 
and  their  foremost  duty  was  to  put  down  blas- 
phemy, idolatry,  and  heresy.  In  any  question  as 
to  what  constituted  the  last,  the  magistrates 
assisted  by  the  elders  were  to  decide  and  to  de- 
termine the  measure  of  the  crime.  They  were  to 
punish  the  heretic,  not  as  one  who  errs  in  an 
intellectual  judgment,  but  as  a  moral  leper  and 

a  Cambridge  Platform,  chap.  xvii. 

According  to  Hooker's  Survey  the  magistrates  had  the  right 
to  summon  synods  because  they  have  the  right  to  command 
the  faculties  of  their  subjects  to  deliberate  concerning  the 
good  of  the  State.  —  Survey,  pt.  iv,  p.  54  et  seq. 


LIBERTY  IN   CONNECTICUT  97 

for  whose  evil  influence  the  community  was  re- 
sponsible to  God.  The  civil  magistrates  were 
also  to  punish  all  profaners  of  the  Sabbath,  all 
contemners  of  the  ministry,  all  disturbers  of 
public  worship,  and  to  proceed  "  against  schis- 
matic or  obstinately  corrupt  churches." 

These  seven  points  summarize  the  important 
work  of  the  Cambridge  Synod  and  the  Platform 
wherein  it  embodied  the  church  usage  and  fixed 
the  ecclesiastical  customs  of  New  England. 
Concerning  its  own  work,  the  Synod  remarked 
in  conclusion  that  it  "hopes  that  this  will  be 
a' proof  to  the  churches  beyond  the  seas  that  the 
New  England  churches  are  free  from  heresies 
and  from  the  character  of  schism,"  and  that  "  in 
the  doctrinal  part  of  religion  they  have  agreed 
entirely  with  the  Reformed  churches  of  Eng- 
land." 36 

Let  us  in  a  few  sentences  review  the  whole 
story  thus  far  of  colonial  Congregationalism. 
With  the  exception  of  the  churches  of  Plymouth 
and  Watertown,  the  colonists  had  come  to  Amer- 
ica without  any  definite  religious  organization. 
True,  they  had  in  their  minds  the  example  of 
the  Reformed  churches  on  the  Continent,  and 
much  of  theory,  and  many  convictions  as  to  what 
ought  to  be  the  rule  of  churches.  These  theories 
and  these  convictions  soon  crystallized  out.   And 


98      THE   DEVELOPMENT  OF  RELIGIOUS 

the  transatlantic  crystallization  was  found  to 
yield  results,  some  of  which  were  very  similar 
to  the  modifications  which  time  had  wrought  in 
England  upon  the  rough  and  embryonic  forms 
of  Congregationalism  as  set  forth  by  Eobert 
Browne  and  Henry  Barrowe.  The  character- 
istics of  Congregationalism  during  its  first  quar- 
ter of  a  century  upon  New  England  soil  were: 
the  clearly  defined  independence  or  self-govern- 
ment of  the  local  churches ;  the  fellowship  of 
the  churches ;  the  development  of  large  and 
authoritative  powers  in  the  eldership ;  a  more 
exact  definition  of  the  functions  of  synods,  a 
definite  limitation  of  their  authority  ;  and,  finally, 
a  recognition  of  the  authority  of  the  civil  magis- 
trates in  religious  affairs  generally,  and  of  their 
control  in  special  cases  arising  within  individual 
churches.  In  the  growing  power  of  the  eldership, 
and  in  the  provision  of  the  Platform  which  per- 
mits ordination  by  the  hands  of  elders  of  other 
churches,  when  a  church  had  no  elders  and  its 
members  so  desired,  there  is  a  trend  toward  the 
polity  of  the  Presbyterian  system.  In  the  Plat- 
form's definition  of  the  power  of  the  magistrates 
over  the  religious  life  of  the  community,  there 
is  evident  the  colonists'  conviction  that,  not- 
withstanding the  vaunted  independence  of  the 
churches,  there  ought  to  be  some  strong  external 


LIBERTY  IN  CONNECTICUT  99 

authority  to  uphold  them  and  their  discipline ; 
some  power  to  fall  back  upon,  greater  than 
the  censure  of  a  single  church  or  the  combined 
strength  and  influence  derived  from  advisory 
councils  and  unauthoritative  synods.  In  Con- 
necticut, this  control  by  the  civil  power  was  to 
increase  side  by  side  with  the  tendency  to  rely 
upon  advisory  councils.  From  this  twofold  de- 
velopment during  a  period  of  sixty  years,  there 
arose  the  rigid  autonomy  of  the  later  Saybrook 
system  of  church-government,  wherein  the  civil 
authority  surrendered  to  ecclesiastical  courts  its 
supreme  control  of  the  churches. 

Turning  from  the  text  of  the  Cambridge  Plat- 
form to  its  application,  we  find  among  the  earli- 
est churches  "  rent  by  discord,"  schismatically 
corrupt,  and  to  be  disciplined  according  to  its 
provisions,  that  of  Hartford,  Connecticut.  From 
the  earliest  years  of  the  Connecticut  colony  there 
had  been  within  it  a  large  party,  constantly  in- 
creasing, who,  because  they  were  unhappy  and 
aggrieved  at  having  themselves  and  their  chil- 
dren  shut  out  of  the  churches,  had  advocated 
admitting  all  of  moral  life  to  the  communion 
table.  The  influence  of  Thomas  Hooker  kept 
the  discontent  within  bounds  until  his  death  in 
1647,  the  year  before  the  Cambridge  Synod  met. 
Thereafter,  the  conservative  and  liberal  factions 


100    THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  RELIGIOUS 

in  many  of  the  churches  came  quickly  into  open 
conflict.  The  Hartford  church  in  particular  be- 
came rent  by  dissension  so  great  that  neither  the 
counsel  of  neighboring  churches  nor  the  com- 
mands of  the  General  Court,  legislating  in  the 
manner  prescribed  by  the  Cambridge  instrument, 
could  heal  the  schism.  The  trouble  in  the  Hart- 
ford church  arose  because  of  a  difference  between 
Mr.  Stone,  the  minister,  and  Elder  Goodwin, 
who  led  the  minority  in  their  preference  for  a 
candidate  to  assist  their  pastor.  Before  the  dis- 
covery of  documents  relating  to  the  controversy, 
it  was  the  custom  of  earlier  historians  to  refer 
the  dispute  to  political  motives.  But  this  church 
feud,  and  the  discussion  which  it  created  through- 
out Connecticut,  was  purely  religious,  and  had  to 
do  with  matters  of  church  privileges  and  event- 
ually with  rights  of  baptism.0    The  conflict  origi- 

n  ' '  However  the  controversy  of  the  Connecticut  River 
churches  was  embittered  by  political  interests,  it  was  essen- 
tially nothing  else  than  the  fermentation  of  that  leaven  of 
Presbyterianism  which  came  over  with  the  later  Puritan  emi- 
gration, and  which  the  Cambridge  Platform,  with  all  its  expli- 
citness  in  asserting  the  rules  given  by  the  Scriptures,  had 
not  effectually  purged."  —  L.  Bacon,  in  Contrib.  to  Eccl.  Hist, 
of  Conn.,  p.  17. 

See  also  H.  M.  Dexter,  Congr.  as  seen  in  Lit.,  pp.  46S-G9. 

Of  the  twenty-one  contemporaneous  documents,  by  various 
authors,  none  mention  baptism  as  in  any  way  an  issue  in 
debate.  "  Dr.  Trumbull  probably  touches  the  real  root  of 
the  affair  when  he  speaks  of  the  controversy  as  one  concerning 


LIBERTY  IN  CONNECTICUT  101 

nated  through  Mr.  Stone's  conception  of  his 
ministerial  authority,  which  belonged  rather  to 
the  period  of  his  English  training  and  which  was 
concisely  set  forth  by  his  oft-quoted  definition  of 
the  rule  of  the  elders  as  "  a  speaking  aristocracy 
in  the  face  of  a  silent  democracy."0  Mr.  Stone 
and  Elder  Goodwin,  the  two  chief  officers  in  the 
Hartford  church,  each  commanded* an  influen- 
tial following.  Personal  and  political  affiliations 
added  to  the  bitterness  of  party  bias  in  the  dis- 
pute which  raged  over  the  following  three  ques- 
tions :  (a)  What  were  the  rights  of  the  minority 
in  the  election  of  a  minister  whom  they  were 
obliged  to  support  ?  (b)  What  was  the  proper 
mode  of  ecclesiastical  redress  if  these  rights  were 

the  '  rights  of  the  brotherhood,'  and  the  conviction,  entertained 
by  Mr.  Goodwin,  that  these  rights  had  been  disregarded." 
The  question  of  baptism  ran  parallel  with  the  question  under 
debate,  incidentally  mixed  itself  with  and  outlived  it  to  be 
the  cause  of  a  later  quarrel  that  should  split  the  church.  — 
G.  L.  Walker,  First  Church  in  Hartford,  p.  154. 

a  Mr.  Stone  admitted  :  "  (1)  I  acknowledge  yl  it  is  a  liberty  of 
ye  church  to  declare  their  apprehensions  by  vote  about  ye  fit- 
ness of  a  prson  for  office  upon  his  tryall. 

(2)  "I  look  at  it  as  a  received  truth  yl  an  officer  may  in 
some  cases  lawfully  hinder  ye  church  from  putting  forth  at 
this  or  y'  time  an  act  of  her  liberty. 

(3)  "  I  acknowledge  y*  I  hindered  y°  church  fro  declaring 
their  apprehensions  by  vote  (upon  y°  day  in  question)  con- 
cerning Mr.  Wigglesworth's  fitness  for  office  in  ye  church  of 
Hartford."  —  Conn.  Historical  Society  Papers,  ii.  51-125. 


102    THE   DEVELOPMENT  OF  RELIGIOUS 

ignored  ?  (c)  What  were  those  baptismal  rights 
and  privileges  which  the  Cambridge  Platform 
had  not  definitely  settled  ?  The  discussion  of  the 
first  two  questions  precipitated  into  the  fore- 
ground the  still  unanswered  third.  The  turmoil 
in  the  Hartford  church  continued  for  years  and 
was  provocative  of  disturbances  throughout  the 
colony.  Accordingly,  in  May,  1G56,  a  petition 
was  presented  to  the  General  Court  by  persons 
unknown,  asking  for  broader  baptismal  privi- 
leges. Moved  by  the  appeal,  the  Court  appointed 
a  committee,  consisting  of  the  governor,  lieuten- 
ant-governor and  two  deputies,  to  consult  with 
the  elders  of  the  churches  and  to  draw  up  a  series 
of  questions  embodying  the  grievances  which 
were  complained  of  throughout  the  colony  as  well 
as  in  the  Hartford  church.  The  Court  further 
commanded  that  a  copy  of  these  questions  be  sent 
to  the  General  Courts  of  the  other  three  colonies, 
that  they  might  consider  them  and  advise  Con- 
necticut as  to  some  method  of  putting  an  end  to 
ecclesiastical  disputes.  As  Connecticut  was  not 
the  only  colony  having  trouble  of  this  sort,  Mas- 
sachusetts promptly  ordered  thirteen  of  her  elders 
to  meet  at  Boston  during  the  following  summer, 
and  expressed  a  desire  for  the  cooperation  of  the 
churches  of  the  confederated  colonies.  Plymouth 
did  not  respond.     New  Haven  rejected  the  pro- 


LIBERTY  IN  CONNECTICUT  103 

posed  conference.  She  feared  that  it  would  re- 
sult in  too  great  changes  in  church  discipline 
and,  consequently,  in  her  civil  order,  —  changes 
which  she  believed  would  endanger  the  peace  and 
purity  of  her  churches  ;  a  yet  she  sent  an  exposi- 
tion, written  by  John  Davenport,  of  the  ques- 
tions to  be  discussed.  The  Connecticut  General 
Court,  glad  of  Massachusetts'  appreciative  sym- 
pathy, appointed  delegates,  advising  them  to  first 
take  counsel  together  concerning  the  questions 
to  be  considered  at  Boston,  and  ordered  them 
upon  their  return  to  report  to  the  Court. 

The  two  questions  which  since  the  summoning 
of  the  Cambridge  Synod  had  been  undgr  discus- 
sion throughout  all  New  England  were  the  right 
of  non-covenanting  parishioners  in  the  choice  of 
a  minister,  and  the  rights  of  children  of  baptized 
parents,  that  had  not  been  admitted  to  full  mem- 
bership. These  were  the  main  topics  of  discus- 
sion in  the  Synod,  or,  more  properly,  Ministerial 

a  In  the  New  Haven  letter,  she  wrote,  "  We  hear  the  peti- 
tioners, or  others  closing1  with  them,  are  very  confident  they 
shall  obtain  great  alterations  both  in  civil  government  and 
church  discipline,  and  that  some  of  them  have  procured  and 
hired  one  as  their  agent,  to  maintain  in  writing  (as  it  is  con- 
ceived) that  parishes  in  England,  consenting  to  and  continuing 
their  meetings  to  worship  God,  are  true  churches,  and  such 
persons  coming  over  thither,  (without  holding  forth  any  work 
of  faith)  have  all  right  to  church  privileges."  — New  Haven 
Col.  Records,  iii,  186. 


104    THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  RELIGIOUS 

Convention,  of  1657,  which  assembled  in  Boston, 
and  which  decreed  the  Half -Way  Covenant.  The 
Assembly  decided  in  regard  to  baptism  that 
persons,  who  had  been  baptized  in  their  infancy, 
but  who,  upon  arriving  at  maturity,  had  not 
publicly  professed  their  conversion  and  united  in 
full  membership  with  the  church,  were  not  fit  to 
receive  the  Lord's  Supper :  — 

Yet  in  case  they  understood  the  Grounds  of  Reli- 
gion and  are  not  scandalous,  and  solemnly  own  the 
Covenant  in  their  own  persons,"  wherein  they  give 
themselves  and  their  own  children  unto  the  Lord,  and 
desire  baptism  for  them,  we  (with  due  reverence  to 
any  Godly  Learned  that  may  dissent)  see  not  suffi- 
cient cause  to  deny  Baptism  unto  their  children.87 

Church  care  and  oversight  were  to  be  extended 
to  such  children.  But  in  order  to  go  to  com- 
munion, or  to  vote  in  church  affairs,  the  old 
personal,  public  profession  that  for  so  many 
years  had  been  indispensable  to  "  signing  the 
covenant "  was  retained 38  and  must  still  be 
given. 

This  Half- Way  Covenant,  as  it  came  to  be 
called,  enlarged  the  terms  of  baptism  and  of 
admission  to  church  privileges  as  they  had  been 
set  forth  in  the  Cambridge  Platform.     The  new 

"  That  is,  they  assent  to  the  main  truths  of  the  Gospel  and 
promise  obedience  to  the  church  they  desire  to  join. 


LIBERTY   IN  CONNECTICUT  105 

measure  held  within  itself  a  contradiction  to  the 
foundation  principle  of  Congregationalism.  A 
dual  membership  was  introduced  by  this  attempt 
to  harmonize  the  Old  Testament  promise,  that 
God's  covenant  was  with  Abraham  and  his  seed 
forever,  with  the  Congregational  type  of  church 
which  the  New  Testament  was  believed  to  set 
forth.  The  former  theory  must  imply  some  mea- 
sure of  true  faith  in  the  children  of  baptized 
parents,  whether  or  no  they  had  fulfilled  their 
duty  by  making  public  profession  and  by  uniting 
with  the  church.  This  duty  was  so  much  a 
matter  of  course  with  the  first  colonists,  and  so 
deeply  ingrained  was  their  loyalty  to  the  faith 
and  practice  which  one  generation  inherited  from 
another,  that  it  never  occurred  to  them  that 
future  descendants  of  theirs  might  view  differ- 
ently these  obligations  of  church  membership. 
But  a  difficulty  arose  later  when  the  adult  obli- 
gation implied  by  baptism  in  infancy  ceased  to 
be  met,  and  when  the  question  had  to  be  settled 
of  how  far  the  parents'  measure  of  faith  carried 
grace  with  it.  Did  the  inheritance  of  faith,  of 
which  baptism  was  the  sign  and  seal,  stop  with 
the  children,  or  with  the  grandchildren,  or  where  ? 
To  push  the  theory  of  inherited  rights  would  re- 
sult eventually  in  destroying  the  covenant  church, 
bringing  in  its  stead  a  national  church  of  mixed 


106    THE   DEVELOPMENT   OF  RELIGIOUS 

membership ;  to  press  the  original  requirements 
of  the  covenant  upon  an  unwilling  people  would 
lessen  the  membership  of  the  churches,  expose 
them  to  hostile  attack,  and  to  possible  overthrow. 
The  colonists  compromised  upon  this  dual  mem- 
bership of  the  Half- Way  Covenant.  As  its  full 
significance  did  not  become  apparent  for  years, 
the  work  of  the  Synod  of  1657  was  generally 
acceptable  to  the  ministry,  but  it  met  with  oppo- 
sition among  the  older  laity.  It  was  welcomed 
in  Connecticut,  where  Henry  Smith  of  Wethers- 
field  as  early  as  1647,  Samuel  Stone  of  Hartford 
after  1650,  and  John  Warham  of  Windsor,  had 
been  earnest  advocates  of  its  enlarged  terms. 
As  early  as  in  his  draft  of  the  Cambridge  Plat- 
form, Ralph  Partridge  of  Duxbury  in  Plymouth 
colony  had  incorporated  similar  changes,  and 
even  then  they  had  been  seconded  by  Richard 
Mather.0  They  had  been  omitted  from  the  final 
draft  of  that  Platform  because  of  the  opposition 

a  Among  Massachusetts  clergymen,  Thomas  Allen  of 
Charlestown,  1642,  Thomas  Shepherd,  Cambridge,  1049,  John 
Norton,  Ipswich,  1653,  held  that  the  haptismal  privileges 
should  be  widened,  and  John  Cotton  himself  was  slowly  drift- 
ing toward  this  opinion. 

The  Windsor  church  was  the  first  in  Connecticut  to  practice 
the  Half- Way  Covenant,  January  31,  1657-58,  to  March  10, 
JCit;  1-65,  when  the  pastor,  having  doubts  as  to  its  validity,  dis- 
continued the  practice  until  1668,  when  it  was  again  resumed. 
—  Stiles,  Ancient  Windsor,  p.  172. 


LIBERTY  IN  CONNECTICUT  107 

of  a  small  but  influential  group  led  by  the  Rev. 
Charles  Chauncey.  As  early  as  1650,  it  had  be- 
come evident  that  public  opinion  was  favorable 
to  such  a  change,  and  that  some  church  would 
soon  begin  to  put  in  practice  a  theory  which  was 
held  by  so  many  leading  divines.  Though  the 
Half -Way  Covenant  was  strenuously  opposed  by 
the  New  Haven  colony  as  a  whole,  Peter  Prudden, 
its  second  ablest  minister,  had,  as  early  as  1651, 
avowed  his  earnest  support  of  such  a  mea- 
sure. 

The  Half- Way  Covenant  was  presented  to 
the  Connecticut  General  Court,  August,  1657. 
Orders  were  at  once  given  that  copies  of  it 
should  be  distributed  to  all  the  churches  with 
a  request  for  a  statement  of  any  exceptions 
that  any  of  them  might  have  to  it.  None  are 
known  to  have  been  returned.  This  was  not  due 
to  any  great  unanimity  of  sentiment  among  the 
churches,  for  in  Connecticut,  as  elsewhere,  many 
of  the  older  church-members  were  not  so  liberally 
inclined  as  their  ministers,  and  were  loth  to 
follow  their  lead  in  this  new  departure.  But 
when  controversy  broke  out  again  in  the  Hart- 
ford church,  in  1666,  because  of  the  baptism  of 
some  children,  it  was  found  that  in  the  inter- 
val of  eleven  years  those  who  favored  the  Half- 
Way  covenant  had  increased  in  numbers  in  the 


108    THE   DEVELOPMENT   OF  RELIGIOUS 

church,0  and  were  rapidly  gaining  throughout 
the  colony,  especially  in  its  northern  half.  By 
the  absorption  of  the  New  Haven  Colony,  its 
southern  boundary  in  1664  had  become  the  shore 
of  Long  Island  Sound. 

Though  public  opinion  favored  the  Half-Way 
Covenant,  the  practice  of  the  churches  was 
controlled  by  their  exclusive  membership),  and, 
unless  a  majority  thereof  approved  the  new  way, 
there  was  nothing  to  compel  the  church  to 
broaden  its  baptismal  privileges.6  This  differ- 
ence between  public  opinion  and  church  practice, 
between  the  congregations  and  the  coterie  of 
church  members,  was  provocative  of  clashing 
interests  and   of   factional    strife.    For  several 


a  Stone  held  his  party  on  the  ground  that  over  a  matter  of 
internal  discipline  a  synod  had  no  control,  and  that  he  could 
exercise  Congregational  discipline  upon  any  seceders.  The  im- 
mediate result  was  the  removal  of  the  discontented  to  Boston 
or  to  Hadley ;  where,  however,  they  could  not  be  admitted  to 
another  church  until  Stone  had  released  them  from  his.  This 
he  refused  to  do.  Thus,  he  showed  the  power  of  a  minister, 
when  backed  by  a  majority,  to  inflict  virtual  excommunica- 
tion. This  could  be  done  even  though  his  authority  was  open 
to  question.  — J.  A.  Doyle,  Puritan  Colonies,  ii,  p.  77. 

b  Meanwhile  the  Massachusetts  Synod  (purely  local)  of 
1062  stood  seven  to  one  in  favor  of  the  Half-Way  Covenant 
practice,  and  had  reaffirmed  the  fellowship  of  the  churches 
according  to  the  synodical  terms  of  the  Cambridge  Platform, 
as  against  a  more  authoritative  system  of  consociation,  pro- 
posed by  Thomas  Shepherd  of  Cambridge. 


LIBERTY  IN  CONNECTICUT  109 

years  these  factional  differences  were  held  in 
check  and  made  subordinate  to  the  urgent  politi- 
cal situation  which  the  restoration  of  the  Stuarts 
had  precipitated,  and  which  demanded  harmoni- 
ous action  among  the  colonists.  A  royal  charter 
had  to  be  obtained,  and  when  obtained,  it  gave 
Connecticut  dominion  over  the  New  Haven  col- 
ony. The  lower  colony  had  to  be  reconciled  to 
its  loss  of  independence,  in  so  much  as  the  gov- 
erning party,  with  its  influential  following  of 
conservatives,  objected  to  the  consolidation.  The 
liberals,  a  much  larger  party  numerically,  pre- 
ferred to  come  under  the  authority  of  Connecti- 
cut and  to  enjoy  her  less  restrictive  church  policy 
and  her  broader  political  life.  Matters  were 
finally  adjusted,  and  delegates  from  the  old  New 
Haven  colony  first  took  their  seats  as  members 
of  the  General  Court  of  Connecticut  at  the 
spring  session  of  1665.  Thereafter,  in  Connect- 
icut history,  especially  its  religious  history,  the 
strain  of  liberalism  most  often  follows  the  old 
lines  of  the  Connecticut  colony,  while  that  of 
conservatism  is  more  often  met  with  as  reflect- 
ing the  opinions  of  those  within  the  former 
boundaries  of  that  of  New  Haven. 

It  was  in  the  year  following  the  union  of  the 
two  colonies  that  the  quarrel  in  the  Hartford 
church  broke  out  afresh.    The  fall  preceding  the 


110    THE   DEVELOPMENT  OF  RELIGIOUS 

consolidation  of  the  colonies,  an  appeal  was 
made  to  the  Connecticut  General  Court  which 
helped  to  swell  the  dissatisfaction  in  the  Hart- 
ford church  and  to  bring  it  to  the  bursting  point. 
In  October,  1664,  William  Pitkin,  by  birth  a 
member  of  the  English  Established  Church  a  and 
a  man  much  'esteemed  in  the  colony,  as  shown, 
politically,  by  his  office  of  attorney,39  and  socially 
by  his  marriage  with  Elder  Goodwin's  daughter, 
petitioned  the  General  Court  in  behalf  of  him- 
self and  six  associates  that  it  — 

would  take  into  serious  consideration  our  present  state 
in  this  respect  that  wee  are  thus  as  sheep  scattered 
haveing  no  shepheard,  and  compare  it  with  what  wee 
conceive  you  can  not  but  know  both  God  and  our 
King  would  have  it  different  from  what  it  now  is. 
And  take  some  speedy  and  effectual  course  of  redress 
herein,  And  put  us  in  full  and  free  capacity  of  in  joy- 
ing those  forementioned  Advantages  which  to  us  as 
members  of  Christ's  visible  Church  doe  of  right  be- 
long.   By  establishing  some  wholesome  Law  in  this 

°  It  must  be  remembered  that  the  "  Church  of  England 
meant  the  aggregate  of  English  Christians,  whether  in  the  up- 
shot of  the  movements  which  were  going  on  (1G30-16G0),  their 
polity  should  turn  out  to  be  Episcopal  or  Presbyterian,  or  some- 
thing different  from  either."  —  Palfrey,  Comprehensive  Hist, 
of  New  England,  i,  p.  111.  J.  R.  Green,  Short  Hist,  of  the 
Eng.  People,  p.  544. 

In  England,  Pitkin  had  been  a  member  of  the  church  of  the 
Commonwealth,  and  in  all  probability  was  not  an  Episcopalian 
or  Church-of-England  man  in  the  usual  sense. 


LIBERTY  IN  CONNECTICUT 


111 


Corporation  by  vertue  whereof  wee  may  both  clame 
and  receive  of  such  officers  as  are,  or  shall  be  by 
Law  set  over  us  in  the  Church  or  churches  where  wee 
have  our  abode  or  residence  those  forementioned 
privileges  and  advantages. 

Further  wee  humbly  request  that  for  the  future  no 
Law  in  this  corporation  may  be  of  any  force  to  make 
us  pay  or  contribute  to  the  maintenance  of  any  Min- 
ister or  officer  in  the  Church  that  will  neglect  or  re- 
fuse to  baptize  our  Children,  and  to  take  charge  of 
us  as  of  such  members  of  the  Church  as  are  under 
his  or  their  charge  and  care  — 

Signed  — 
Admitted  freeman 

Oct.  9th,  1662, 
Admitted  freeman 

May  21,  1657, 
Admitted  freeman 

May  18,  1654, 


Hartford,     Wm.  Pitkin. 


Windsor,     Michael  Humphrey. 


Hartford, 
Windsor, 


Admitted  freeman 
May  20,  1658, 

Admitted  freeman 
May  20,  1658, 


Windsor, 


John  Stedman. 
James  Eno. 

Robart  Reeve. 
John  Morse. 

Jonas  Westover. 40 


Windsor, 

Eno  and  Humphrey  had  been  complained  of 
because  their  insistence  upon  what  they  consid- 
ered their  rights  had  caused  disturbance  in  the 
Windsor  church.  Now,  with  the  other  petition- 
ers, they  based  their  appeal  in  part  upon   the 


112    THE   DEVELOPMENT  OF  RELIGIOUS 

King's  Letter  to  the  Bay  Colony  of  June  2Gth, 
1662,  wherein  Charles  commanded  that  "  all 
persons  of  good  and  honest  lives  and  conversa- 
tion be  admitted  to  the  sacrament  of  the  Lord's 
supper,  according  to  the  said  book  of  common 
prayer,  and  their  children  to  baptism." 

This  petition  of  Pitkin  and  his  associates  was 
the  first  notable  expression  of  dissatisfaction 
with  the  Congregationalism  of  Connecticut. 
Several  Episcopal  writers  have  quoted  it  as  the 
first  appeal  of  Churchmen  in  Connecticut.  In 
itself,  it  forbids  such  construction.  The  peti- 
tioners had  come  from  England  and  from  the 
church  of  the  Commonwealth.  They  were  asking 
either  for  toleration  in  the  spirit  of  the  Half- 
Way  Covenant  or  for  some  special  legislation  in 
their  behalf.  Further,  they  were  demanding  reli- 
gious care  and  baptism  for  their  children  from  a 
clergy  who,  from  the  point  of  view  of  any  strict 
Episcopalian,  had  no  right  to  officiate ;  and, 
again,  it  was  nearly  ten  years  before  the  first 
Church-of-England  men  found  their  way  to 
Stratford.41 

The  Court  made  reply  to  Pitkin's  petition  by 
sending  to  all  the  churches  a  request  that  they 
consider  — 

whither  it  be  not  their  duty  to  entertaine  all  sucli 
persons,  who  are  of  honest  and  godly  conuersation, 


LIBERTY  IN  CONNECTICUT  113 

hauing  a  competency  of  knowledge  in  the  principles 
of  religion,  and  shall  desire  to  joyne  with  them  in 
church  fellowship,  by  an  explicitt  couenant,  and  that 
they  haue  their  children  baptized,  and  that  all  the 
children  of  the  church  be  accepted  and  accotd  reall 
members  of  the  church  and  that  the  church  exercise 
a  due  christian  care  and  watch  ouer  them ;  and  that 
when  they  are  grown  up,  being  examined  by  the  offi- 
cer in  the  presence  of  the  church,  it  appeares  in  the 
judgment  of  charity,  they  are  duly  qualified  to  parti- 
cipate in  the  great  ordinance  of  the  Lord's  Supper,  by 
their  being  able  to  examine  and  discerne  the  Lord's 
body,  such  persons  be  admitted  to  full  comunion. 

The  Court  desires  y*  the  seuerall  officers  of  ye  re- 
spectiue  churches,  would  be  pleased  to  consider  whither 
it  be  the  duty  of  the  Court  to  order  churches  to  prac- 
tice according  to  the  premises,  if  they  doe  not  practice 
without  such  an  order.42 

The  issue  was  now  fairly  before  the  churches 
of  the  colony.  The  delegates  of  the  people  had 
expressed  the  opinion  of  the  majority.  The  Court 
had  invited  the  expression  of  any  dissent  that 
might  exist,  yet,  despite  the  invitation,  it  had  is- 
sued almost  an  order  to  the  churches  to  practice 
the  Half- Way  Covenant,  and  with  large  interpre- 
tation, applying  it,  not  only  to  the  baptism  of 
children  who  had  been  born  of  parents  baptized 
in  the  colonial  church,  but  also  to  those  whose 
parents  had  been  baptized  in  the  English  com- 


114    THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  RELIGIOUS 

munion,  at  least  during  the  Commonwealth.0 
Pitkin  at  once  proceeded  in  behalf  of  himself  and 
several  of  his  companions  to  apply  for  "  com- 
munion with  the  church  of  Hartford  in  all  the 
ordinances  of  Christ." 43  This  the  church  refused, 
and  wrought  its  factions  up  to  white  heat  over 
the  baptism  of  some  child  or  children  of  non-com- 
municants. The  storm  broke.  Other  churches 
felt  its  effects.  Windsor  church  was  rent  by 
faction,  Stratford  was  in  turmoil  over  the  Half- 
Way  Covenant,  and  other  churches  were  divided. 
Some  means  had  to  be  found  to  put  an  end  to 
the  increasing  disorder.  Accordingly  the  Court 
in  October,  1666,  commanded  the  presence  of 
all  the  preaching  elders  and  ministers  within 
the  colony  at  a  synod  to  find  "  some  way  or 
means  to  bring  those  ecclesiastical  matters  that 
are  in  difference  in  the  severall  Plantations  to 
an  issue."  The  Court  felt  obliged  to  change  the 
name  of  the  appointed  meeting  from  "synod"  to 
"  assembly  "  to  avoid  the  jealousy  of  the  churches. 
They  were  afraid  that  the  civil  power  would  over- 
step its  authority,  and  by  calling  a  synod,  com- 

a  Such  an  order  could  only  produce  futher  disturbance.  Strat- 
ford and  Norwalk  protested.  As  a  rule  the  order  was  most 
unwelcome  in  the  recently  acquired  New  Haven  colony.  Mr. 
Pierson  of  Branford,  with  some  of  the  conservative  church 
people  of  Guilford  and  New  Haven,  went  to  New  Jersey  to 
its  consequences. 


LIBERTY  IN  CONNECTICUT  115 

posed  of  elders  only,  establish  a  precedent  for 
the  exclusion  of  lay  delegates  from  such  bodies. 
Before  this  "  assembly  "  could  meet,  it  was  shorn 
of  influence  through  the  politics  of  the  conservative 
Hartford  faction,  who  succeeded  in  passing  a  bill 
at  the  session  of  the  Commissioners  of  the  United 
Colonies,  which  read  :  — 

That  in  matters  of  common  concern  of  faith  or 
order  necessitating  a  Synod,  it  should  be  a  Synod 
composed  of  messengers  from  all  the  colonies.44 

Accordingly,  Connecticut's  next  step  was  to 
invite  Massachusetts  to  join  in  a  synod  to  debate 
seventeen  questions  of  which  several  had  been 
submitted  to  the  Synod  of  1657,  and  had  re- 
mained unanswered.  Among  them  were  the 
questions  of  the  right  to  vote  in  the  choice  of 
minister ;  of  minority  rights ;  and  where  to  ap- 
peal in  cases  of  censure  believed  to  be  unmer- 
ited." Massachusetts  courteously  replied  that  the 

«  Among  the  questions,  still  unanswered,  which  had  been 
submitted  in  1657  were :  (9)  "  Whether  it  doth  belong-  to  the 
body  of  a  town,  collectively  taken,  jointly,  to  call  him  to  be 
their  minister  whom  the  church  shall  choose  to  be  their  officer." 
(13)  "Whether  the  church,  her  invitation  and  election  of  an 
officer,  or  preaching  elder,  necessitates  the  whole  congregation 
to  sit  down  satisfied,  as  bound  to  accept  him  as  their  minister 
though  invited  and  settled  without  the  town's  consent."  (11) 
"  Unto  whom  shall  such  persons  repair  who  are  grieved  by  any 
church  process  or  censure,  or  whether  they  must  acquiesce  in 


116    THE   DEVELOPMENT  OF  RELIGIOUS 

questions  would  be  considered  if  submitted  in 
writing ;  but  she  was  at  heart  so  indifferent  that 
negotiations  for  a  colonial  synod  lapsed,  and  Con- 
necticut was  left  to  adjust  the  differences  in  her 
churches.  Consequently,  in  May,  1668,  the 
Court,  — 

for  promoting  and  establishing  peace  in  the  churches 
and  plantations  because  of  various  apprehensions  in 
matters  of  discipline  respecting  membership  and  bap- 
tism, — 

appointed  a  committee  of  influential  men  in  the 
colony  to  search  out  the  rules  for  discipline  and 
see  how  far  persons  of  "  various  apprehensions  " 
could  walk  together  in  church  fellowship.  This 
committee  reported  at  the  October  session,  and 
the  Court,  after  accepting  their  decision,  formally 
declared  the  Congregational  church  established 
and  its  older  customs  approved,  asserting  that  — 

Whereas  the  Congregationall  churches  in  these 
partes  for  the  generall  of  their  profession  and  practice 
have  hitherto  been  approued,  we  can  doe  no  less  than 
still  approue  and  countenance  the  same  to  be  without 
disturbance  until  a  better  light  in  an  orderly  way  doth 
appeare ;  but  yet  foreasmuch  as  sundry  persons  of 
worth  for  prudence  and  piety  amongst  us  are  other- 
wise perswaded  (whose  welfare  and  peaceable  satis- 

the  churches  under  which  they  belong."  —  Trumbull,  Hist,  of 
Conn,  i,  302-8. 


LIBERTY  IN  CONNECTICUT  117 

faction  we  desire  to  accommodate)  This  Court  doth 
declare  that  all  such  persons  being  also  approued  to 
lawe  as  orthodox  and  sound  in  the  fundamentals  of 
Christian  religion  may  haue  allowance  of  their  per- 
swasion  and  profession  in  church  wayes  or  assemblies 
wthout  disturbance. 

The  liberal  church  party  had  won  the  privi- 
leges for  which  they  had  contended,  but  the 
conservatives  were  not  beaten,  for  it  was  upon 
their  conception  of  church  government  that  the 
Court  set  its  seal  of  approval.  The  Court  had 
been  tolerant,  and  the  churches  must  be  also. 
Upon  such  terms,  the  old  order  was  to  continue 
"  until  a  better  light  should  appear."  The  tol- 
erance toward  changing  conditions,  thus  ex- 
pressed, was  further  emphasized  by  the  Court's 
command  to  the  churches  to  accept  into  full  mem- 
bership certain  worthy  people  who  could  not  bring 
themselves  to  agree  fully  with  all  the  old  order 
had  demanded.  The  second  part  of  the  enactment 
just  quoted  was,  strictly  speaking,  Connecticut's 
first  toleration  act ;  yet  it  must  be  realized  that 
now,  as  later,  the  degree  of  toleration  admitted 
no  release  from  the  support  of  an  unacceptable 
ministry  or  from  fines  for  neglect  of  its  ministra- 
tions. Tolerance  was  here  extended  not  to  dis- 
senters, but  only  to  varying  shades  of  opinions 
within  a  common  faith  and  fold. 


118     THE   DEVELOPMENT  OF  RELIGIOUS 

In  the  spirit  of  such  legislation,  the  Court  ad- 
vised the  Hartford  church  to  "  walk  apart."  The 
advice  was  accepted,  the  church  divided,  and  the 
members  who  went  out  reorganized  as  the  Second 
Church  of  Hartford.  Other  discordant  churches 
quickly  followed  this  example.  The  Second 
Church  of  Hartford  immediately  put  forth  a  de- 
claration, asserting  that  its  Congregationalism 
was  that  of  the  old  original  New  England  type. 
The  force  of  public  opinion  was  so  great,  how- 
ever, that  despite  its  declaration,  the  Second 
Church  began  at  once  to  accept  the  Half -Way 
Covenant.  "  The  only  result  of  their  profession 
was  to  give  a  momentary  name  to  the  struggle 
as  between  Congregationalist  and  Presbyte- 
rian."45 It  was  no  effective  opposition  to  the 
onward  development  in  Connecticut  of  the  new 
order.  When  the  churches  found  that  neither 
the  old  nor  the  new  way  was  to  be  insisted  upon, 
the  violence  of  faction  ceased.  The  dual  member- 
ship was  accepted.  For  a  while,  its  line  of  cleav- 
age away  from  the  old  system,  with  its  local 
church  "as  a  covenanted  brotherhood  of  souls 
renewed  by  the  experience  of  God's  grace,"  was 
not  realized,  any  more  than  that  the  new  system 
was  merging  the  older  type  of  church  "  into  the 
parish  where  all  persons  of  good  moral  character, 
living  within  the  parochial  bounds,  were  to  have, 


LIBERTY  IN   CONNECTICUT  119 

as  in  England  and  Scotland,  the  privilege  of 
baptism  for  their  households  and  of  access  to  the 
Lord's  table."  46  Another  move  in  this  direction 
was  taken  when  the  splitting  off  of  churches,  and 
the  forming  of  more  than  one  within  the  original 
parish  bounds,  necessitated  a  further  departure 
from  the  principles  of  Congregationalism,  and 
when  the  sequestration  of  lands  for  the  benefit 
of  clergy  became  a  feature  of  the  new  order.47 
In  this  formation  of  new  churches,  the  oldest 
parish  was  always  the  First  Society.0  Those 
formed  later  did  not  destroy  it  or  affect  its  ante- 
cedent agreements.48  Only  sixty-six  years  had 
passed  (1603-1669)  since  the  publication  of  the 
"  Points  of  Difference  "  between  the  Separatists, 
the  London-Amsterdam  exiles,  and  the  Church 
of  England,  wherein  insistence  had  been  laid 
upon  the  principles  of  a  covenanted  church,  of 
its  voluntary  support,  and  of  the  unrighteousness 
of  churches  possessing  either  lands  or  revenue ! 
The  pendulum  had  swung  from  the  broad  demo- 
cracy and  large   liberty  of  Brownism  through 

a  In  New  England  Congregationalism,  the  church  and  the 
ecclesiastical  society  were  separate  and  distinct  bodies.  The 
church  kept  the  records  of  births,  deaths,  marriage,  baptism, 
and  membership,  and,  outside  these,  confined  itself  to  spiritual 
matters ;  the  society  dealt  with  all  temporal  affairs  such  as  the 
care  and  control  of  all  church  property,  the  payment  of  min- 
isters' salaries,  and  also  their  calling,  settlement,  and  dismissal. 


120    RELIGIOUS  LIBERTY   IN   CONNECTICUT 

Barrowism,  past  the  Cambridge  Platform  (al- 
most the  centre  of  its  arc),  and  on  through  the 
Half -Way  Covenant  to  the  beginning  of  a  parish 
system.  It  had  still  farther  to  swing  before  it 
reached  the  end  of  the  arc,  marked  by  the  Say- 
brook  Platform,  and  before  it  began  its  slower 
return  movement,  to  rest  at  last  in  the  Congrega- 
tionalism of  the  past  seventy  years. 


CHAPTER  V 

A   PERIOD    OF   TRANSITION 

Alas  for  piety,  alas  for  the  ancient  faith! 

Though  Massachusetts  had  been  indifferent 
and  had  left  Connecticut  to  work  out,  unaided, 
her  religious  problem,  the  two  colonies  were  by 
no  means  unfriendly,  and  in  each  there  was  a 
large  conservative  party  mutually  sympathetic  in 
their  church  interests.  The  drift  of  the  liberal 
party  in  each  colony  was  apart.  The  homogeneity 
of  the  Connecticut  people  put  off  for  a  long 
while  the  embroilments,  civil  and  religious,  to 
which  Massachusetts  was  frequently  exposed 
through  her  attempts  to  restrain,  restrict,  and 
force  into  an  inflexible  mould  her  population, 
which  was  steadily  becoming  more  numerous  and 
cosmopolite.  The  English  government  received 
frequent  complaints  about  the  Bay  Colony,  and, 
as  a  result,  Connecticut,  by  contrast  of  her 
"  dutiful  conduct  "  with  that  of  "  unruly  Massa- 
chusetts," gained  greater  freedom  to  pursue  her 
own  domestic  policy  with  its  affairs  of  Church 
and  State.    Many  of  its  details  were  unknown, 


122     THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  RELIGIOUS 

or  ignored,  by  the  English  government.  The 
period  when  the  four  colonies  had  been  united 
upon  all  measures  of  common  welfare,  whether 
temporal  or  spiritual,  had  passed.  There  were 
now  three  colonies.  One  of  these,  much  weaker 
than  the  others,  was  destined  within  compara- 
tively few  years  to  be  absorbed  by  Massachusetts 
as  New  Haven  had  been  by  Connecticut.  Mean- 
while, Massachusetts  and  Connecticut  were  de- 
veloping along  characteristic  lines  and  had  each 
its  individual  problems  to  pursue.  While  in 
ecclesiastical  affairs  the  conservative  factions  in 
the  two  colonies  had  much  in  common  and  con- 
tinued to  have  for  a  long  time,  the  Reforming 
Synod  of  1679-80,  held  in  Boston,  was  the  last 
in  which  all  the  New  England  churches  had  any 
vital  interest,  because  a  period  of  transition  was 
setting  in.  This  period  of  transition  was  marked 
by  an  expansion  of  settlements  with  its  accom- 
panying spirit  of  land-grabbing,  and  by  a  lower- 
ing of  tone  in  the  community,  as  material  inter- 
ests superseded  the  spiritual  ones  of  the  earlier 
generations,  and  as  the  Indian  and  colonial  wars 
spread  abroad  a  spirit  of  license.  In  the  reli- 
gious life  of  the  colonists,  this  transition  made 
itself  felt  not  alone  in  the  character  of  its  devo- 
tees, but  in  the  ecclesiastical  system  itself,  as  it 
changed  from  the  polity  and  practice  embodied 


LIBERTY  IN  CONNECTICUT  123 

in  the  Cambridge  Platform  to  that  of  a  later 
day,  and  to  the  almost  Presbyterian  government 
expressed  in  the  Say  brook  Platform  of  1708. 
The  transition  in  Massachusetts,  in  both  secular 
and  religious  development,  varied  greatly  from 
that  in  Connecticut.  Hence,  from  the  time  of 
the  Reforming  Synod,  the  history  of  Connecti- 
cut is  almost  entirely  the  story  of  its  own  career, 
touching  only  at  points  the  historical  develop- 
ment of  the  other  New  England  colonies.  On 
the  religious  side,  it  is  the  story  of  the  evolution 
of  Connecticut's  peculiar  Congregationalism. 

The  Reforming  Synod  of  1679-80  had  been 
called  by  the  Massachusetts  General  Court  be- 
cause, in  the  words  of  that  old  historian,  Thomas 
Prince  :  — 

A  little  after  1660,  there  began  to  appear  Decay, 
And  this  increased  to  1670,  when  it  grew  very  visible 
and  threatening,  and  was  generally  complained  of 
and  bewailed  bitterly  by  the  pious  among  them  (the 
colonists)  :  and  yet  more  to  1680,  when  but  few  of 
the  first  Generation  remained.49 

The  reasons  of  this  falling  away  from  the 
standards  of  the  first  generation  were  many.  In 
the  first  place,  the  colonists  had  become  mere 
colonials.  Upon  the  Stuart  restoration,  the  strong- 
est ties  which  bound  them  to  the  pulsing  life  of 


124     THE   DEVELOPMENT  OF  RELIGIOUS 

the  mother  country,  the  religious  ones,  were  sev- 
ered. The  colonists  ceased  to  be  the  vanguard 
of  a  great  religious  movement,  the  possible  haven 
of  a  new  political  state.  Though  they  received 
many  refugees  from  Stuart  conformity,  the  reli- 
gious ties  which  bound  them  to  the  English  non- 
conformists were  weakened,  and  still  more  so 
when  both  the  once  powerful  wings  of  the  Puri- 
tan party,  Presbyterian  and  Independent,  were 
alike  in  danger  of  extinction.  Shortly  after  the 
Revolution  of  1688,  when,  under  the  larger  toler- 
ance of  William  and  Mary,  the  Presbyterians 
and  Independents  strove  to  increase  their  strength 
by  a  union  based  upon  the  "  Heads  of  Agree- 
ment," English  and  colonial  nonconformity 
moved  for  a  brief  time  nearer,  and  then  still 
farther  apart.  The  "  Heads  of  Agreement  "  ° 
was  a  compromise  so  framed  as  to  admit  of  ac- 
ceptance by  the  Presbyterian  who  recognized 
that  he  must,  once  for  all,  give  up  his  hope  of 
a  national  church,  and  by  the  Independent  anx- 
iously seeking  some  bond  of  authority  to  hold' 
together  his  weak  and  scattered  churches.  After 
this  compromise,  the  religious  life  of  the  colo- 
nies ceased  to  be  of  vital  importance  to  any  large 
section  of  the  English  people.    After  the  Resto- 

n  The  "  Heads  of  Agreement "  was  destined  to  have  more 
influence  in  America  than  in  England. 


LIBERTY  IN  CONNECTICUT  125 

ration  the  colonial  agents  became  preeminently 
interested  in  secular  affairs,  in  political  privi- 
leges, and  commercial  advantages.  The  reaction 
was  felt  in  the  colonies  by  generations  who 
lacked  the  heroic  impulses  of  their  fathers,  their 
constant  incentive,  and  their  high  standards. 
Moreover,  the  education  of  the  second  and  third 
generation  could  not  be  like  that  of  the  first. 
The  percentage  of  university  men  was  less. 
New  Harvard  could  not  supply  the  place  of  old 
Cambridge.  If  life  was  easier,  it  was  more 
material. 

Against  such  conditions  as  these,  the  Reform- 
ing Synod  made  little  headway.0  It  set  forth 
in  thirteen  questions  the  offenses  of  the  day 
and  in  the  answer  to  each  suggested  remedies. 
To  these  questions  and  answers  the  synod  added 
a  confession  of  faith.  This  last  was  a  reaffir- 
mation of  the  Westminster  Confession  of  Faith 
as  amended  and  approved  by  Parliament,  or 
that  found  in  the  Savoy  Declaration.6  In  re- 
's The  order  of  the  Massachusetts  Court  was  "  for  the  re- 
visall  of  the  discipline  agreed  upon  by  the  churches,  1G47,  and 
what  else  may  appeare  necessary  for  the  preventing-  schism, 
haeresies,  prophaneness,  and  the  establishment  of  the  churches 
in  one  faith  and  order  of  the  gospell."  There  was  no  ques- 
tioning of  the  Court's  right  to  summon  this  synod,  as  there  had 
been  in  1646-48. 

6  The  Savoy  Declaration  of  October,  1G58,  was  put  forth  by 
the  English  leaders  of  the  Independent,  or  Congregational, 


126    THE   DEVELOPMENT   OF  RELIGIOUS 

spect  to  church  government,  the  Reforming 
Synod  confirmed  the  "  substance  of  the  Platform 
of  Discipline  agreed  upon  by  the  messengers  of 
these  Churches  at  Cambridge,  Anno  Domini, 
1648," 50  desiring  the  churches  to  "  continue 
steadfast  in  the  Order  of  the  Gospel  according 
to  what  is  therein  declared  from  the  Word  of 
God."  Cotton  Mather  in  the  "  Magnalia," 51  writ- 
ing twenty  years  later,  gives  four  points  of  de- 
parture from  the  Cambridge  polity  by  the  Re- 
forming Synod.  First,  occasional  officiations 
of  ministers  outside  their  own  churches  were 
authorized ;  secondly,  there  was  a  movement  to 
revive  the  authority  and  office  of  ruling  elder 
and  other  officers  ;  thirdly,  "  plebeian  ordination," 

churches  as  a  confession  of  faith,  and  in  its  thirty  articles 
contained  a  declaration  of  church  order.  The  formulated 
principles  of  church  order  were  suggested  by  the  Cambridge 
Platform  but  were  neither  so  clear  nor  so  fully  stated  as  in  the 
New  England  document.  The  Westminster  Confession,  the 
Savoy  Declaration,  and  the  later  Heads  of  Agreement,  were 
destined  to  have  more  influence  in  New  England  than  in  Eng- 
land, where  the  effect  was  transient.  The  Reforming  Synod 
preferred  the  Savoy  Declaration  to  the  Westminster  Confes- 
sion because  the  terms  of  the  former  were  more  strictly  Con- 
gregational, and  also  because  they  wished  to  hold  a  confession 
in  common  with  their  trans-Atlantic  brethren.  The  Massa- 
chusetts synod  changed  here  and  there  a  word  in  order  to  em- 
phasize the  church-membership  of  children  as  a  right  derived 
through  the  Half- Way  Covenant,  and  also  to  state  explicitly 
the  right  of  the  civil  authority  to  interfere  in  questions  of 
doctrine. 


LIBERTY  IN   CONNECTICUT  127 

or  lay  ordination,  ordination  by  the  hands  of  the 
brethren  of  the  church  in  the  absence  of  superior 
officers,  was  no  longer  allowed ;  °  and  fourthly, 
there  was  a  variation  from  the  "  personal  and 
public  confession  "  in  favor  of  a  private  exami- 
nation by  the  pastor  of  candidates  for  church- 
membership,  though  the  earlier  custom  was  still 
regarded  as  "  lawful,  expedient  and  useful." 
With  reference  to  the  office  of  ruling  elder,  it 
had  been  done  away  with  in  many  churches, 
partly  because  of  lack  of  suitable  men  to  fill  the 
office,  partly  because  of  the  mistakes  of  incom- 
petents, and  partly  because  of  a  growing  doubt 
as  to  the  Scriptural  sanction  for  such  an  office. 
In  many  churches  the  office  of  teacher  had  also 
been  abolished,  the  pastor  inheriting  all  the  au- 
thority formerly  lodged  in  the  eldership,  and  as 
he  retained  his  power  of  veto,  it  came  about 
that  the  churches  were  largely  in  the  power  of 
one  man. 

Plymouth  and  Connecticut  colonies  strongly 
approved  the  work  of  this  local  Massachusetts 
synod.  As  a  result  of  the  interest  excited  by  its 
suggestions  to  increase  church  discipline,  for  laws 

a  In  1GG0  the  lay  ordination  of  the  Rev.  Thomas  Bucking- 
ham of  Saybrook,  Conn.,  was  strongly  opposed  by  a  council  of 
churches,  but  it  was  reluctantly  yielded  to  the  insistent  church. 
—  J.  B.  Felt,  Eccl.  History,  ii,  207. 


128    THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  RELIGIOUS 

to  encourage  morality  and  Christian  instruction, 
and  for  renewed  zeal  on  the  part  of  individuals 
in  godly  living,  a  goodly  number  of  converts  were 
immediately  added  to  the  churches  throughout 
all  the  colonies.  Of  these,  the  larger  number 
were  admitted  on  the  Half-Way  Covenant.  But 
times  had  changed,  and  the  churches  could  not 
keep  pace.  The  attempts  to  enforce  religion  were 
fruitless,0  and  only  go  to  show  that  political  in- 
terests, that  wars,6  with  their  accompanying  ex- 
citement and  license,  and  that  engrossing  civil 
affairs  had  torn  men's  minds  from  the  old  inter- 
ests in  religious  controversies  and  in  religious 
customs. 

The  Church    itself    had   deteriorated   as  the 

«  "  Whereas  this  Court  [the  General  Court  of  Connecticut] 
in  the  calamitous  times  of  '75  and  '76  were  moved  to  make 
some  laws  for  the  suppression  of  some  provoaking  evils  which 
were  feared  to  be  growing  up  amongst  us  :  viz.  —  prophanation 
of  the  Sabbath ;  neglect  of  catechizing  children  and  servants 
and  famaly  prayer ;  young  persons  shaking  off  the  government 
of  parents  or  masters;  boarders  and  inmates  neglecting  the 
worship  of  God  in  famalyes  where  they  reside ;  tipling  & 
drinkeing  ;  uncleanness  ;  oppression  in  workmen  and  traders ; 
which  laws  have  little  prevailed.  It  is  therefore  ordered  by 
this  Court  that  the  selectmen  constables  and  grand-jury  men 
in  their  several  plantations  shall  have  a  special  care  in  their 
respective  places  to  promote  the  due  and  full  attendance  of 
these  aforementioned  orders  of  this  Court." 

''  King  Philip's  War,  1675-76;  the  usurpation  of  Andros ; 
King  William's  War,  1080-97,  with  its  expedition  against 
Quebec;  Queen  Anne's  War,  1702-13. 


LIBERTY  IN   CONNECTICUT  129 

towns  in  their  civil  capacity  had  undertaken  the 
support  of  the  minister  and  to  collect  his  rates. 
Even  earlier  began,  also,  the  gradual  change  by 
which  the  election  of  the  minister  passed  from  the 
small  group  of  church  communicants,  or  full 
membership,  to  the  larger  body  of  the  Society, 
and  finally  to  the  town.  This  change  was  partly 
brought  about  through  the  increasing  acceptance 
of  the  Half- Way  Covenant  with  its  attendant 
results.  In  some  localities,  "  owning  the  Cove- 
nant "  and  presenting  one's  children  for  baptism 
came  to  be  considered  not  as  a  necessary  fulfill- 
ing of  inherited  duties  (because  of  inherited 
baptismal  privileges)  and  the  consequent  recog- 
nition of  moral  obligations,  but  as  meritorious 
acts,  having  of  themselves  power  to  benefit  the 
participants.  Further,  the  rite  of  baptism,  con- 
fined at  first  to  children  one  at  least  of  whose 
parents  had  been  baptized,  was  later  permitted 
to  any  for  whom  a  satisfactory  person  —  any 
one  not  flagrantly  immoral  —  could  be  found  to 
promise  that  the  child  should  have  religious 
training.  Still  another  factor  in  the  lowering  of 
religious  life  was  Stoddardeanism,  or  the  teach- 
ing of  the  Rev.  Solomon  Stoddard  of  North- 
ampton, Massachusetts,  a  most  powerful  preacher 
and  for  many  years  the  most  influential  minister 
throughout  the  Connecticut  valley.    As  early  as 


130    THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  RELIGIOUS 

1679,  he  began  to  teach  that  baptized  persons, 
who  had  owned  the  covenant,  should  be  admitted 
to  the  Lord's  Supper,  so  that  the  rite  itself  might 
exercise  in  them  a  regenerating  grace.  In  its 
origin,  this  teaching  was  probably  intended  as  a 
protest  against  a  morbid,  introspective,  and  weak- 
ening self-examination  on  the  part  of  many  who 
doubted  their  fitness  to  go  to  communion.  But 
as  a  result  of  the  inter  working  of  this  teaching 
and  of  the  practice  of  the  Half- Way  Covenant, 
church  membership  came  in  time  to  include 
almost  any  one  not  openly  vicious,  and  willing 
to  give  intellectual,  or  nominal,  assent  to  church 
doctrines  and  also  to  a  few  church  regulations. 
With  the  change,  the  large  body  of  townsmen 
became  the  electors  of  the  minister.  Cotton 
Mather  in  the  "  Ratio  Discipline  "  52  illustrates 
these  changing  conditions  when  he  tells  us  that 
the  communicants  felt  that  the  right  to  elect  the 
minister  was  invested  in  them  as  the  real  church 
of  Christ,  and  that,  in  order  to  avoid  strife  or 
the  defeat  of  their  candidate  by  the  majority  of 
the  town,  they  would  customarily  propose  a 
choice  between  two  nominees. 

Carelessness  of  the  churches  in  admitting  mem- 
bers had  had  its  counterpart  in  the  carelessness 
of  the  towns  in  admitting  inhabitants.  Very 
early,  as  early  as  1658,  the  Connecticut  General 


LIBERTY  IN  CONNECTICUT  131 

Court  had  been  obliged  to  call  them  to  order. 
The  March  session  of  1658-59  had  limited 
the  franchise  to  all  inhabitants  of  twenty-one 
years  of  age  or  over  who  were  householders 
(that  is,  married  men),  and  who  had  thirty 
pounds  estate,  or  who  had  borne  office.  This  was 
shortly  changed  to  "  thirty  pomids  of  proper 
personal  estate,"  or  who  had  borne  office.  The 
ratable  estate  in  the  colony  averaged  sixty 
pounds  per  inhabitant  at  this  time.  Up  to 
March,  1658-59,  the  towns  had  admitted  in- 
habitants by  a  majority  vote.  These  admitted 
inhabitants,  armed  with  a  certificate  of  good 
character  from  their  town,  presented  themselves 
before  the  General  Court  as  candidates  for  the 
freeman's  franchise,  and  were  admitted  or  not  as 
the  Court  saw  fit.  Disfranchisement  was  the 
penalty  for  any  scandalous  behavior  on  the  part 
of  the  successful  candidate.  One  reason  for  the 
new  and  restrictive  legislation  was  that  from 
1657  to  1660,  from  some  cause  unknown,  large 
numbers  of  undesirable  colonists  flocked  into  the 
Connecticut  towns,  and  thus  it  happened  that, 
as  the  Church  broadened  her  idea  of  member- 
ship, the  State  had  need  to  limit  its  conception 
of  democracy.  Consequently,  it  narrowed  the 
franchise  by  adding  to  the  original  requirements 
a  large  property  qualification,  and  continued  to 


132    THE   DEVELOPMENT  OF  RELIGIOUS 

demand  the  certificates  of  good  character.  More- 
over, the  candidates  were  further  required  to 
present  their  credentials  in  October,  and  they 
were  not  to  be  passed  upon  until  the  next  session 
of  the  Court  in  the  following  April.  This  two- 
fold change  in  the  religious  and  political  life  of 
the  colony  gave  greater  flexibility  and  greater 
security,  for  "  with  church  and  state  practically 
intertwined,  the  theory  of  the  one  had  been  too 
narrow  and  of  the  other  too  broad."  53  After  the 
change  in  the  franchise,  records  of  the  towns 
show  that  there  was  less  disorder  in  admitting 
inhabitants  and  more  care  taken  as  to  their  per- 
sonal character. 

As  the  townsmen  became  the  electors  of  the 
minister,  and  when  the  new  latitude  in  member- 
ship had  been  accepted  by  the  churches,  there 
soon  appeared  a  growing  slackness  of  discipline 
and  also  an  increase  of  authority  in  the  hands  of 
the  ministers  and  their  subordinate  deaconry. 
This  excess  of  authority  in  the  hands  of  one  man 
tended  to  one-man  ride  and  to  frequent  friction 
between  the  minister  and  his  people.  As  a  result 
councils  might  be  called  against  councils  in  the 
attempt  to  settle  questions  or  disputes  between 
pastors  and  people.  Consequently,  among  conser- 
vatives, there  came  to  be  the  feeling  that  there 
ought  to  be  some  authoritative  body  to  supervise 


LIBERTY   IN   CONNECTICUT  133 

the  churches,  —  one  to  which  both  pastor  and 
people  could  appeal  disputed  points. 

In  Massachusetts,  the  Connecticut  colonists 
saw  a  strenuous  attempt  to  establish  such  an 
authority.  Between  1690  and  1705,  the  Massa- 
chusetts clergy  had  revived  the  early  custom  of 
fortnightly  meetings  of  neighboring  ministers. 
The  new  associations  were  purely  voluntary  ones 
for  mutual  assistance,  for  debate  upon  matters 
of  common  interest,  or  for  consultation  over 
special  difficulties,  whether  pertaining  to  churches 
or  to  their  individual  members,  which  might  be 
brought  before  them.  These  associations  grew 
in  favor,  and  later  became  a  permanent  feature 
of  New  England  Congregationalism.  Because 
they  were  received  with  so  much  favor  at  the 
time  of  their  revival,  the  conservative  Massachu- 
setts clergy  attempted  in  the  "  Proposals  of 
1705"  to  increase  the  ministerial  and  synodical 
power  within  the  churches,  and  to  bring  about 
a  reformation  in  manners  and  morals  by  giving 
to  these  associations  very  large  and  authorita- 
tive powers.  The  Proposals  provided  that  all 
ministers  should  be  joined  in  Associations  for 
mutual  help  and  advice  ;  for  licensing  candidates 
for  the  ministry ;  for  providing  for  pastorless 
churches ;  for  a  general  oversight  of  religion, 
and   for   the   examination  of   charges   brought 


134    THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  RELIGIOUS 

against  their  own  members.  Standing  Councils, 
composed  of  delegates  from  the  Associations  and 
also  of  a  proper  number  of  delegates  (apparently 
laymen)  to  represent  the  membership  of  the 
churches,  were  to  be  established.  These  were  to 
control  all  church  matters  throughout  the  colony 
that  were  "  proper  for  the  consideration  of  an 
ecclesiastical  council,"  and  obedience  to  their 
judgments  was  to  be  enforced  under  penalty  of 
forfeiture  of  church-fellowship.  The  Proposals 
were  approved  by  the  majority  of  the  Massachu- 
setts clergy  ;  but  the  liberal  party  within  the 
churches  would  not  accede  to  their  demands,  and 
the  General  Court  would  not  sanction  the  Pro- 
posals in  the  face  of  such  opposition.  Conse- 
quently, the  essential  feature  of  the  Proposals, 
the  Standing  Councils,  was  never  adopted.  But 
the  attempt  to  establish  them  invigorated  the 
Associations,  and  the  licensing  of  candidates  was 
arranged  for. 

Many  people  in  Connecticut  approved  the 
tenor  of  the  Proposals  and  desired  a  similar  sys- 
tem. Moreover,  there  never  was  a  time  when  the 
General  Court  was  so  ready  to  delegate  to  an 
ecclesiastical  body  the  control  of  the  churches. 
The  trustees  of  the  young  college,  Yale,  the  most 
representative  gathering  of  clergymen  in  the 
colony,  were  anxious  to  have  the  Court  establish 


LIBERTY  IN  CONNECTICUT  135 

some  system  of  ecclesiastical  government  stronger 
than  that  existing  among  the  churches,  and  to 
have  it  send  out  some  approved  confession  of 
faith  and  discipline.  Consequently,  when,  in 
1708,  Guerdon  Saltonstall,"  the  popular  ex-min- 
ister of  New  London,  was  raised  to  the  governor's 
chair,  the  time  seemed  ripe  for  a  move  to  satisfy 
the  widespread  demand.  In  response  to  it,  the 
May  session  of  the  General  Court  — 

from  their  own  observation  and  the  complaints  of 
many  others,  being  made  sensible  of  the  defects  of  the 
discipline  of  the  churches  of  this  government,  aris- 
ing from  want  of  a  more  explicit  asserting  of  the 
rules  given  for  that  in  the  holy  scriptures  [saw  fit] 
to  order  and  require  the  ministers  of  the  several 
churches  in  the  several  counties  of  this  government 
to  meet  together  at  their  respective  countie  towns, 
with  such  messengers  as  the  churches  to  which  they 
belong  shall  see  cause  to  send  with  them  on  the  last 
day  of  June  next,  there  to  consider  and  agree  upon 
those  methods  and  rules  for  the  management  of  eccle- 
siastical discipline  which  shall  be  judged  agreable 
and  conformable  to  the  word  of  God,  and  shall  at  the 
same  meeting,  appoint  two  or  more  of  their  number  to 

a  Governor  Saltonstall "  was  more  inclined  to  synods  and  for- 
mularies than  any  other  minister  of  that  day  in  the  New  Eng- 
land colonies."  His  influence  over  the  clergy  was  almost  abso- 
lute. "  The  Saybrook  Platform  was  stamped  with  his  seal  and 
was  for  the  most  part  an  embodimemVof  his  views."  —  Hollister, 
Hist,  of  Conn.  vol.  ii,  p.  585. 


136    THE   DEVELOPMENT  OF  RELIGIOUS 

meet  together  at  Saybrook  .  .  .  where  they  shall 
compare  the  results  of  the  ministers  of  the  several 
counties,  and  out  of  which  and  from  them  to  draw  a 
form  of  ecclesiastical  discipline,  which  by  two  or  more 
persons  delegated  by  them  shall  be  offered  this  Court 
.  .  .  and  be  confirmed  by  them.54 

The  bill  was  passed  by  the  Upper  House  of 
the  legislature  and  sent  to  a  conference  from  the 
Lower,  May  22, 1708.  It  became  a  law  May  22. 
In  the  interim  the  words  in  italics  were  inserted 
in  order  to  eliminate  any  possible  loss  of  liberty 
to  the  churches  and  to  protect  them  from  a  sys- 
tem of  government,  planned  by  ministers  only, 
and  enforced  by  the  General  Court.55 

No  records  of  the  preliminary  meeting  have 
come  down  to  us,  but  the  Preface  of  the  Saybrook 
Platform  reports  such  a  meeting  and  that  their 
delegates  met  at  Saybrook,  September  9,  1708. 
At  this  second  convention,  twelve  ministers,  of 
whom  eight  were  trustees  of  Yale,  and  four  mes- 
sengers were  present.  Their  work,  known  as  the 
Saybrook  Platform,  declares  in  its  Preface  that  — 

we  agree  that  the  confession  of  faith  owned  &  con- 
sented unto  by  the  Elders  and  messengers  of  the 
Clihs  assembled  at  Boston  in  New  England,  May  12, 
1680  being  the  Second  Session  of  that  Synod  be  Re- 
commended to  the  Honbl  the  Gen.  Assembly  of  this 
Colony  at  the  next  Session  for  their  Publick  testimony 
thereto  as  the  faith  of  the  Chhs  of  this  Colony. 


LIBERTY  IN  CONNECTICUT  137 

We  agree  also  that  the  Heads  of  Agreement  as- 
sented to  by  the  vnited  Ministers  formerly  Called 
Presbyterian  &  Congregationall  be  observed  by  the 
Clilis  throout  this  Colony. 

The  work  of  the  synod,  including  also  a  series 
of  authoritative  "  Articles,"  was  laid  before  the 
October  session  of  the  Court  and  received  its  ap- 
proval, the  Court  declaring  its  "great  approbation 
of  such  a  happy  agreement "  and  ordaining  "  that 
all  churches  within  this  government  that  are  or 
shall  be  thus  united  in  doctrine,  worship  and  dis- 
cipline, be  and  for  the  future  shall  be  owned  and 
acknowledged  established  by  law." 56 

The  period  of  transition  was  over.  Connecticut 
had  passed  from  the  individual  consecration  and 
democratic  organization  of  the  Cambridge  Plat- 
form to  the  comprehensive  membership  of  a  par- 
ish system  and  to  the  authoritative  councils,  or 
ecclesiastical  courts,  provided  for  by  the  Saybrook 
Articles.  A  consideration  of  them  as  the  main 
points  of  the  Platform  is  next  in  order. 


CHAPTER   VI 

THE   SAYBROOK   PLATFORM 
A  Government  within  a  Government. 

The  Saybrook  Platform  subdivides  into  a  Con- 
fession of  Faith,  the  Heads  of  Agreement,  and 
the  Fifteen  Articles. 

The  Confession  of  Faith  is  merely  a  recom- 
mendation of  the  Savoy  Confession  as  reaffirmed 
by  the  Synod  of  Boston  or  the  Reforming  Synod 
of  1680. 

The  Heads  of  Agreement  are  but  a  repetition 
of  the  articles  that,  under  the  same  title,  were 
passed  in  London,  in  1691,  by  fourteen  delegates 
from  the  Presbyterian  and  English  Congrega- 
tional churches.  Both  parties  to  the  Agreement 
had  hoped  thereby  to  establish  more  firmly  their 
churches  and  to  give  them  the  strength  and  dig- 
nity of  a  strongly  united  body.  The  Heads  of 
Agreement  were  drafted  by  three  men,  Increase 
Mather,  the  Massachusetts  colonial  agent  to  Eng- 
land, Matthew  Mead,  a  Congregationalist,  and 
John  Hone,  a  Presbyterian,  who  in  his  earlier 
years  and  by  training  was  a  Congregationalist. 


LIBERTY  IN  CONNECTICUT  139 

Naturally,  between  the  influence  of  the  framers 
and  the  necessity  for  including  the  two  religious 
bodies,  this  platform  inclined  towards  Congrega- 
tionalism, but  equal  necessity  led  it  away  from  the 
freedom  of  the  Cambridge  Platform,  after  which 
it  was  patterned. 

In  the  Heads  of  Agreement,  the  composition 
of  the  church  is  defined  according  to  Congrega- 
tional standards,  as  is  also  the  election  of  its  offi- 
cers. The  definition  of  the  powers  of  the  church 
is  not  strictly  Congregational,  because  initiative 
action  and  governing  powers  are  intrusted  to  the 
eldership,  while,  to  the  brethren,  there  is  given  only 
the  privilege  of  assenting  to  such  measures  as  the 
elders  may  place  before  them.  The  membership 
in  the  church,  as  defined,  is  semi-Congregational ; 
i.  e.,  in  order  to  become  members,  persons  must 
be  "grounded  in  the  Fundamental  Doctrines 
of  religion  "  and  lead  moral  lives,  but  they  are 
eligible  to  communion  only  after  the  declaration 
of  their  desire  "  to  walk  together  according  to 
Gospel  Rule."  Concerning  this  declaration  the 
statement  is  made  that  "  different  degrees  of  Ex- 
pliciteness  shall  in  no  way  hinder  such  Churches 
from  owning  each  other  as  Instituted  Churches" 
Furthermore,  no  one  should  be  pressed  to  declare 
the  time  and  manner  of  his  conversion  as  proof 
of  his  fitness  to  be  received  as  a  communicant. 


140   THE   DEVELOPMENT  OF   RELIGIOUS 

Such  an  account  would,  however,  be  welcome. 
With  reference  to  parochial  bounds,  introduced 
into  the  primitive  Congregationalism  of  New 
England,  but  always  existing  in  the  English  Pres- 
byterian system,  the  Heads  of  Agreement  de- 
clare them  to  be  "  not  of  Divine  Right "  but  — 

for  common  Edification  that  church  members  should 
live  near  one  another,  nor  ought  they  to  forsake  their 
church  for  another  without  its  consent  and  recommen- 
dation. 

In  respect  to  the  ministry,  the  Heads  of  Agree- 
ment affirm  that  it  should  be  learned  and  com- 
petent and  approved;  that  ordinarily,  pastors 
should  be  considered  as  ministers  only  while  they 
continue  in  office  over  the  church  that  elected 
them  to  its  ministry ;  that  ordinarily,  in  their 
choosing  and  calling,  advice  should  be  sought 
from  neighboring  churches,  and  that  they  should 
be  ordained  with  the  aid  of  neighboring  pastors. 
In  the  matter  of  installation  into  a  new  office  of 
an  elder,  previously  ordained,  churches  are  to  ex- 
ercise the  right  of  individual  judgment  and  of 
preference  as  to  reordination.  This  same  right 
of  preference  is  to  be  exercised  in  deciding 
whether  or  not  a  church  should  support  a  ruling 
elder.  The  Heads  of  Agreement  assert  that  in 
the  intercommunion  of  churches  there  is  to  be 


LIBERTY  IN  CONNECTICUT  141 

no  subordination  among  them,  and  that  there 
ought  to  be  frequent  friendly  consultations  be- 
tween their  "  Officers.'"  There  are  to  be  "  Occa- 
sional Meetings  of  Ministers  "  of  several  churches 
to  consult  and  advise  upon  "  weighty  and  difficult 
cases,"  and  to  whose  judgments,  "particular 
Churches,  their  respective  Elders  and  Members, 
ought  to  have  a  reverential  regard,  and  not  dis- 
sent therefrom,  without  apparent  grounds  from 
the  word  of  God."  The  Heads  of  Agreement 
command  churches  to  yield  obedience  and  support 
to  the  civil  authority  and  to  be  ready  at  all  times 
to  give  the  magistrates  an  account  of  their  affairs. 
The  Heads  of  Agreement  were  the  most  liberal 
part  of  the  Saybrook  Platform,  and  were  not  con- 
sidered sufficiently  authoritative.  Accordingly, — 

for  the  Better  Regulation  of  the  Administration  of 
Chh  Discipline  in  Relation  to  all  Cases  Ecclesiastical 
both  in  Particular  Chhs  and  In  Councils  to  the  full 
Determining  and  Executing  of  the  Rules  in  all  such 

cases,57  — 

were  added  certain  resolutions,  known  as  the 
"  Fifteen  Articles."  They  are  in  reality  the 
Platform,  for  all  that  goes  before  them  is  but 
a  reaffirmation  of  principles  already  accepted, 
and  the  new  thing  in  the  document,  the  ad- 
vance in  ecclesiasticism,  is  the  increased  authority 


142    THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  RELIGIOUS 

permitted  and,  later,  enforced  by  these  Fifteen 
Articles. 

The  Articles  affirm  that  power  and  discipline 
in  connection  with  all  cases  of  scandal  that  may 
arise  within  a  church,  ought,  the  brethren  con- 
senting, to  be  lodged  with  the  elder  or  elders ; 
and  that  in  all  difficult  cases,  the  pastor  should 
take  advice  of  the  elders  of  the  neighboring 
churches  before  proceeding  to  censure  or  pass 
judgment.  In  order  to  facilitate  both  discipline 
and  mutual  oversight,  the  Articles  provide  that  eld- 
ers and  pastors  are  to  be  joined  in  Associations, 
meeting  at  least  twice  a  year,  to  consult  together 
upon  questions  of  ministerial  duty  and  upon  mat- 
ters of  mutual  benefit  to  their  churches.  From 
these  Associations,  delegates  were  to  be  chosen 
annually  to  meet  in  one  General  Association, 
holding  its  session  in  the  spring,  at  the  time  of 
the  general  elections.  The  Associations  were  to 
look  after  pastorless  churches  and  to  recommend 
candidates  for  the  ministry.  Up  to  this  time  a 
man's  bachelor  of  arts  degree  had  been  considered 
sufficient  guarantee  that  he  would  make  a  capable 
minister.  Henceforth,  there  could  no  longer  be 
complaint  that  "  there  was  no  uniform  method 
of  introducing  candidates  to  the  ministry  nor 
sufficient  opportunity  for  churches  to  confer  to- 
gether in  order  to  their  seeing  and  acting  harino- 


LIBERTY  IN  CONNECTICUT  143 

niously." 58  In  order  that  there  should  be  no  more 
confusion  arising  from  calling  councils  against 
councils  with  their  often  conflicting  judgments, 
the  Articles  formed  Consociations,  or  unions  of 
churches  within  certain  limits,  usually  those  of  a 
county.  These  Consociations  were  to  assist  upon 
all  great  or  important  ecclesiastical  occasions. 
They  were  to  preside  over  all  ordinations  or  in- 
stallations ;  they  were  to  decide  upon  the  dis- 
missal of  members,  and  upon  all  difficulties  arising 
within  any  church  within  their  district.  If  neces- 
sary, Consociations  could  be  joined  in  council. 
Their  decisions  were  to  have  the  force  of  a  judg- 
ment or  sentence  only  when  they  were  "  approved 
by  the  major  part  of  the  elders  present  and  by 
such  a  number  of  the  messengers  "  —  one  or  two 
from  each  church  —  as  should  constitute  a  ma- 
jority vote.  A  church  could  call  upon  its  Con- 
sociation for  advice  before  sentencing  an  offender, 
but  the  offender  could  not  appeal  to  the  Consocia- 
tion without  the  consent  of  his  church.  By  these 
last  provisions,  authority  and  power  tended  still 
more  to  concentrate  in  the  hands  of  the  elders. 
The  Fifteen  Articles,  though  they  did  not  make 
the  judgments  of  the  Consociations  decisive,  urged 
upon  individual  churches  a  reverent  regard  for 
them. 

The  attitude  of  the  churches  towards  these 


144    THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  RELIGIOUS 

Fifteen  Articles  varied,  and  it  was  already- 
known  in  the  Synod  that  such  would  be  the  case. 
Some  churches  would  find  them  more  palatable 
than  others.  Many  were  already  converts  to  the 
Rev.  Solomon  Stoddard's  insistent  teaching  that 
"  a  National  Synod  is  the  highest  ecclesiastical 
authority  upon  earth,"  59  that  every  man  must 
stand  to  the  judgment  of  a  National  Synod. 
Even  five  years  before  the  convening  of  the 
Synod  at  Saybrook,  there  had  issued  from  a 
meeting  of  the  Yale  trustees,0  "  altogether  the 
most  representative  ecclesiastical  gathering  in 
the  colony,"  a  circular  letter  which  urged  the 
Connecticut  ministers  to  agree  on  some  unifying 
confession  of  creed,  and  that  such  be  recom- 
mended by  the  General  Court  to  the  considera- 
tion of  the  people.  The  immediate  answer  to  the 
letter,  if  any,  is  unknown.   Trumbull  says  that — 

the  proposal  was  universally  acceptable,  and  the 
churches  and  the  ministers  of  the  several  counties 
met  in  a  consociated  council  and  gave  their  assent  to 
the  Westminster  and  Savoy  Confessions  of  Faith.60 

It  seems  that  they  also  "  drew  up  certain  rules 
of  ecclesiastical   discipline  as  preparatory  to  a 

a  The  charter  for  the  college,  together  with  an  annual  grant 
of  three  hundred  dollars,  was  granted  in  1701.  None  hut  minis- 
ters were  to  he  trustees. 


LIBERTY   IN  CONNECTICUT  145 

General  Synod  which  they  still  had  in  contem- 
plation," 61  but  took  no  further  step  to  obtain  the 
approval  of  the  Court.  This  first  definite  move 
toward  the  Saybrook  system  bore  fruit  when 
the  Fifteen  Articles  were  added  to  the  Platform. 
Their  authoritative  tone  was  to  satisfy  those 
within  the  churches  who  preferred  Presbyterian 
classes  and  synods,  while  their  interpretation 
could  be  modified  to  please  the  adherents  of 
a  purer  Congregationalism  by  reading  them  in 
the  light  of  the  Heads  of  Agreement  which  pre- 
ceded them.  Of  their  possible  purport  two  great 
authorities  upon  Congregationalism  speak  as  fol- 
lows.    Dr.  Bacon  writes :  — 

The  "  Articles  "  by  whomsoever  penned,  were  ob- 
viously a  compromise  between  the  Presbyterian 
interest  and  the  Congregational ;  and  like  most 
compromises,  they  were  (I  do  not  say  by  design)  of 
doubtful  interpretation.  Interpreted  by  a  Presbyte- 
rian, they  might  seem  to  subject  the  Churches  com- 
pletely to  the  authoritative  government  of  classes  or 
presbyteries  under  the  name  of  consociations.  Inter- 
preted by  a  Congregationalist,  they  might  seem  to 
provide  for  nothing  more  than  a  stated  Council,  in 
which  neighboring  Churches,  voluntarily  confederate, 
could  consult  together,  and  the  proper  function  of 
which  should  be  not  to  speak  imperatively,  but,  when 
regularly  called,  to  "hold  forth  light"  in  cases  of 
difficulty  or  perplexity.62 


146    THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  RELIGIOUS 

Dr.  Dexter  sums  them  up  in   the  following 
words :  — 


Taken  by  themselves,  the  fifteen  articles  were 
stringent  enough  to  satisfy  the  most  ardent  High 
Churchmen  among  the  Congregationalists  of  that 
day  ;  taken,  however,  in  connection  with  the  London 
document  previously  adopted,  and  by  the  spirit  of 
winch  —  apparently  —  they  were  always  to  be  con- 
strued, their  stringency  became  matter  of  differing 
judgment,  so  that  what  on  the  whole  was  their  intent 
has  never  been  settled  to  this  day.63 

In  accordance  with  the  system  of  government 
outlined  in  the  Platform,  the  churches  of  the 
colony  were  at  once  formed  into  five  Associa- 
tions and  five  Consociations,  one  each  in  New 
Haven,  New  London,  and  Fairfield  counties,  and 
two  in  Hartford.  In  later  years,  new  bodies  were 
organized,  as  the  other  four  Connecticut  counties 
were  set  off  from  these  original  ones.  The 
churches  of  the  New  Haven  county  Consociation, 
long  cleaving  to  the  purest  Congregationalism, 
refused  to  adopt  the  Platform  until  they  had 
recorded  their  liberal  construction  of  it.  Fair- 
field went  to  the  other  extreme,  and  put  on  record 
their  acceptance  of  the  Consociations  as  church 
courts.  Hartford  and  New  London  accepted  the 
Platform  as  a  whole,  as  it  came  from  the  synod, 


LIBERTY  IN  CONNECTICUT  147 

leaving  to  time  the  decision  as  to  its  loose  or 
strict  construction. 

A  legislative  act  was  necessary  to  make  the 
Platform  the  legal  constitution  of  the  Congre- 
gational Establishment.  Such  an  act  immediately 
followed  the  presentation  of  the  report  by  the 
committee,  whom  the  Saybrook  convention,  in 
accordance  with  the  Court's  previous  command, 
sent  to  the  Assembly.  Having  examined  the 
Platform,  the  Legislature  declared  its  strong 
approval  of  such  a  happy  agreement,  and  in 
October,  1708,  enacted  that  — 

all  the  Churches  within  this  government  that  are, 
and  shall  be  thus  united  in  doctrine,  worship  and 
discipline,  be,  and  for  the  future  shall  be,  owned  and 
acknowledged,  established  by  law  : 

Provided  always  that  nothing  herein  shall  be  in- 
tended or  construed  to  hinder  or  prevent  any  society 
or  church  that  is  or  shall  be  allowed  by  the  laws  of 
this  government,  who  soberly  differ  or  dissent  from 
the  united  churches  hereby  established,  from  exer- 
cising worship  and  discipline  in  their  own  way,  and 
according  to  their  conscience.64 

The  purport  of  this  proviso  was  to  safeguard 
churches  which  had  been  approved  according  to 
the  standards  formerly  set  up  by  the  Court,  and 
also  to  prevent  the  Act  of  Establishment  from 
seeming   to   contradict  a  "Toleration  Act   for 


148    THE   DEVELOPMENT   OF  RELIGIOUS 

sober  dissenters  "  from  the  colony  church  that 
had  been  passed  at  the  preceding  May  session. 
Out  of  this  proviso  grew  a  misunderstanding  in 
the  Norwich  church,  which  happens  also  to  fur- 
nish a  typical  illustration  of  the  difficulties  some- 
times encountered  in  trying  to  collect  a  minister's 
salary. 

When  Mr.  Woodward,  pastor  of  the  Norwich 
church,  read  the  act  establishing  the  Saybrook 
Platform,  he  omitted  the  proviso.  The  Norwich 
deputies,  who  had  been  present  at  the  passage 
of  the  act,  immediately  informed  the  people  of 
the  provision  which  the  Court  had  made  for  the 
continuance  of  those  churches  of  which  it  had 
previously  approved  and  which  might  be  re- 
luctant to  adopt  the  stricter  terms  of  the  new 
system,  at  least  until  their  value  had  been  dem- 
onstrated. For  this  behavior,  the  deputies  were 
censured  by  the  pastor  and  by  the  majority 
of  the  church,  who  sided  with  him.  Thereupon, 
the  minority  withdrew  and  for  three  months 
worshiped  apart.  Then  the  breach  was  healed, 
though  seeds  of  discord  remained.  By  1714, 
six  years  later,  they  had  germinated  and  had 
attained  such  development  that  it  was  very  diffi- 
cult to  collect  the  minister's  salary.  In  Norwich, 
as  elsewhere,  there  had  formerly  been  a  custom 
of  collecting  the  ministerial  rates  together  with 


LIBERTY   IN   CONNECTICUT  149 

those  of  the  county.  This  custom  had  arisen 
because  of  difficulty  in  collecting  the  former, 
and  in  1708 65  this  practice  was  legalized,  pro- 
vided that  in  each  case  the  minister  made  formal 
application  to  have  his  rates  thus  collected.  In 
the  year  1714  and  the  following  year  the  Gen- 
eral Court  was  obliged  to  issue  a  special  order 
commanding  the  town  of  Norwich  to  fulfill  its 
agreement  with  their  minister  and  to  pay  his 
salary  in  full.  The  second  year,  the  Court 
added  the  injunction  that  the  money  should  be 
collected  by  the  constables.  But  at  the  ses- 
sion following  the  order,  the  Norwich  deputies 
informed  the  Court  that,  owing  to  differences  ex- 
isting among  their  townsmen,  they  had  not  seen 
fit  to  urge  its  commands  upon  their  people. 
Upon  learning  that  Mr.  Woodward's  family 
were  actually  suffering,  the  Court  appointed  a 
date,  and  ordered  the  Norwich  constables  to  pro- 
duce at  the  time  set  a  receipt,  signed  by  Mr. 
Woodward,  and  showing  that  his  salary  had 
been  paid  in  full.  If  the  receipt  was  not  forth- 
coming at  the  appointed  time,  the  secretary  of 
the  colony  was  empowered  to  issue,  upon  appli- 
cation, a  warrant  to  distrain  all  or  any  unpaid 
portion  of  the  minister's  salary  from  the  con- 
stables, and,  also,  any  additional  costs.  This 
legislation  seems  to  have  had  due  effect,  though 


150    THE   DEVELOPMENT  OF  RELIGIOUS 

feeling  ran  so  high  that,  in  the  following  year, 
it  was  decided  to  divide  the  church.  When  the 
two  parishes  were  formed,  Mr.  Woodward  re- 
tired, and  the  life  of  the  divided  church  was 
continued  under  new  ministers. 

From  the  adoption  of  the  Saybrook  Plat- 
form, the  Connecticut  churches  were  for  many 
years  preeminently  Presbyterian  in  character. 
The  terms  Congregational  and  Presbyterian  were 
often  used  interchangeably.  As  late  as  1799, 
the  Hartford  North  Association,  speaking  of  the 
Connecticut  churches,  declared  them  "  to  con- 
tain the  essentials  of  the  Church  of  Scotland  or 
Presbyterian  Church  in  America."  The  Gen- 
eral Association  in  1805  affirmed  that  "  The 
Saybrook  Platform  is  the  constitution  of  the 
Presbyterian  Church  in  Connecticut."0  Whether 

a  The  Hartford  North  Association  in  1799  gave  "  informa- 
tion to  all  whom  it  may  concern  that  the  Constitution  of  the 
Churches  in  the  State  of  Connecticut,  founded  on  the  common 
usage  and  confession  of  faith,  Heads  of  Agreement,  Articles 
of  discipline  adopted  at  the  earliest  period  of  the  settlement  of 
the  State,  is  not  Congregational,  but  contains  the  essentials 
of  the  Church  of  Scotland,  or  Presbyterian  Church  in  Amer- 
ica, particularly,  as  it  gives  a  decisive  power  to  Ecclesiastical 
Councils  and  a  Consociation  consisting  of  Ministers  and  Mes- 
sengers, or  lay  representatives,  from  the  churches,  is  possessed 
of  substantially  the  same  authority  as  a  Presbytery."  The 
fifteen  ministers  at  this  meeting  of  the  Hartford  North  Asso- 
ciation declared  that  there  were  in  the  state  not  more  than  ten 
or  twelve  Congregational  churches,  and  that  the  majority  were 


LIBERTY  IN   CONNECTICUT  151 

called  by  the  one  name  or  the  other,  Presbyte- 
rianized  Congregationalism  was  the  firmly  estab- 
lished state  religion,  for  under  the  Saybrook 
system  the  local  independence  of  the  churches 
was  largely  sacrificed.  The  system  further  ex- 
alted the  eldership  and  the  pastoral  power. 
It  replaced  the  sympathetic  help  and  advisory 
assistance  of  neighboring  churches  by  organ- 
ized associations  and  by  the  authority  of  coun- 
cils. 

In  the  new  system  the  ecclesiastical  machinery 
which,  at  first,  brought  peace  and  order,  soon 
developed  into  a  barren  autonomy  and  gave  rise 
to  rigid  formalism  in  religion,  with  its  conse- 
quent baneful  results  upon  the  spiritual  and 
moral  character  of  the  people.  The  Established 
Church  had  attained  the  height  of  its  security 
and  power,  with  exclusive  privileges  conferred 
by  the  legislature.  That  body  had  turned  over 
to  the  "government  within  a  government"  the 
whole  control  of  the  church  and  of  the  religious 
life  of  the  colony,  and  had  endowed  it  with  eccle- 
siastical councils  which  rapidly  developed  into 
ecclesiastical  courts. 

not,  and  never  had  been,  constituted  according-  to  the  Cam- 
bridge Platform,  though  they  might,  "  loosely  and  vaguely, 
though  improperly,"  be  "  termed  Congregational  Churches." 
—  See  MS.  Records.  Also  G.  L.  Walker,  First  Church  in  Hart- 
ford, p.  358. 


152     RELIGIOUS   LIBERTY  IN   CONNECTICUT 

"  There  was  no  formal  coercive  power ;  but 
the  public  provision  for  the  minister's  support, 
and  the  withdrawal  of  it  from  recalcitrant  mem- 
bers formed  a  coercive  power  of  no  mean  effi- 
ciency." m 


CHAPTER  VII 

THE  SAYBROOK  PLATFORM  AND  THE  TOLERA- 
TION ACT 

They  keep  the  word  of  promise  to  our  ear  and  break  it  to 
our  hope.  —  Macbeth,  Act  V,  Sc.  viii. 

The  Connecticut  General  Court  incorporated  in 
the  act  establishing  the  Saybrook  Platform  the 
proviso  — 

that  nothing  herein  shall  be  intended  or  construed  to 
hinder  or  prevent  any  Society  or  Church  that  is  or 
shall  be  allowed  by  the  laws  of  this  government,  who 
soberly  differ  or  dissent  from  the  United  Churches 
hereby  established  from  exercising  worship  and  dis- 
cipline in  their  own  way,  according  to  their  con- 
science. 

Here  then  was  the  measure  of  such  religious 
toleration  as  could  be  expected.  It  appears  a 
liberal  measure.  It  was  liberal  in  that  day  and 
generation,  when  men's  minds  were  so  firmly  pos- 
sessed by  the  belief  that  civil  order  was  closely 
dependent  upon  religious  uniformity.  The  exact 
purport  of  the  proviso,  however,  can  best  be 
gauged  by  considering  it  in  connection  with  a 


• 


154    THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  RELIGIOUS 

legislative  act  that  immediately  preceded  it,  and 
by  studying  the  conditions  which  prompted  or 
enforced  this  earlier  legislation,  known  as  the 
Toleration  Act  of  1708.a 

As  conditions  were  at  its  passage,  the  proviso 
applied  only  to  certain  Congregational  churches 
that,  preferring  the  polity  of  the  Cambridge 
Platform,  were  determined  to  adhere  to  it.  In 
earlier  years,  these  churches,  with  their  exacting 
test  of  regenerative  experience,  had  constituted 
the  majority.  In  later  years,  the  Half- Way 
Covenant  practice  and  Stoddardeanism  had 
shifted  the  relative  position  of  church  parties. 
Now,  the  proviso  represented  that  liberal-minded 

«  "  For  the  ease  of  such  as  soberly  dissent  from  the  way 
of  worship  and  ministrie  established  by  the  ancient  laws  of 
this  government,  and  still  continuing,  that  if  any  such  persons 
shall  at  the  countie  court  of  the  countie  they  belong  to, 
qualifie  themselves  according  to  an  act  made  in  the  first  year 
of  the  late  King  William  and  Queen  Mary,  granting  libertie  of 
worshipping  God  in  a  way  separate  from  that  which  is  by  law 
established,  they  shall  enjoy  the  same  libertie  and  privilege  in 
any  place  in  this  colonie  without  let,  or  hindrance  or  molesta- 
tion whatsoever.  Provided  always  that  nothing  herein  shall 
be  construed  to  the  prejudice  of  the  rights  and  privileges  of 
the  churches  as  by  law  established  or  to  the  excluding  any  per- 
son from  paying  any  such  minister  or  town  clues  as  are  or  shall 
hereafter  be  due  from  him."  (The  italics  are  mine.  M.  L.  G.) 
Conn.  Col.  Bee.  v,  50. 

Failure  to  comply  with  the  law  was  punished  by  a  heavy 
fine,  and  in  default  thereof,  by  heavy  bail  or  by  imprisonment 
until  the  time  for  trial. 


LIBERTY  IN   CONNECTICUT  155 

party  within  the  church  who  would  extend  toler- 
ance to  the  minority  who  still  clung  to  the  out- 
grown convictions  and  principles  of  an  earlier 
age.  This  tolerance  was  extended  from  a  two- 
fold motive :  for  the  reason  just  assigned,  and 
because  the  government  hoped,  by  permitting  a 
liberal  interpretation  of  the  Saybrook  Articles, 
to  win  over  these  tolerated  Congregational 
churches.  It  trusted  that  the  anticipated  bene- 
fits, proceeding  from  the  new  order  of  church 
government,  would  further  convince  them  of  the 
superior  advantages  derivable  from  the  Presby- 
terian or  more  authoritative  rendering  of  the 
Saybrook  instrument,  and  that  through  such  a 
policy,  the  ready  acceptance  of  the  Saybrook 
Platform  by  all  the  churches  in  the  colony  would 
be  secured.  Furthermore,  it  would  not  do  for 
the  colony  to  make  an  important  law,  following 
the  great  English  precedent  of  1689  which  had 
granted  toleration  to  dissenters,  and  then,  within 
six  months,  frame  a  constitution  for  its  Estab- 
lished Church,  so  rigid  that  no  room  could  be 
found  in  the  colony  for  any  fundamental  differ- 
ences in  faith  or  practice.  Consequently,  the 
proviso  was  made  to  include  both  tolerated  Con- 
gregationalists  and  any  dissenters  who  might  in 
the  future  be  permitted  to  organize  their  own 
churches,  or,  in  the  words  of  the  Court,  "  any 


156    THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF   RELIGIOUS 

Society  or  Church  that  is  or  shall  be  allowed  by 
the  laws  of  this  government."  Thus  the  proviso 
was  practically  forced  into  the  October  legisla- 
tion of  the  General  Court  by  the  passing  of  the 
Toleration  Act  at  its  spring  session,  notwithstand- 
ing the  fact  that  its  inclusion  was  in  accord  with 
the  sentiment  of  the  liberal  party. 

Toleration  Act  and  proviso  notwithstanding, 
no  rival  church  was  desired  at  this  time' in  Con- 
necticut. No  rival  creed  was  recognized.  True, 
there  were  a  few  handfuls  of  dissenters  scattered 
through  the  colony,  but  Congregationalism,  with 
a  strong  tincture  of  Presbyterianism,  was  almost 
the  unanimous  choice  of  the  people.  It  was 
largely  outside  pressure  that  had  forced  the  pas- 
sage of  the  Toleration  Act,  even  if  it  accounts  for 
itself  as  a  loyal  following  of  the  English  prece- 
dent of  1689.  Although  it  had  always  been  un- 
derstood that  the  colonies  should  make  no  laws 
repugnant  to  the  organic  or  to  the  common  law 
of  England,  Connecticut  was  determined  to  pro- 
tect as  much  as  possible  her  own  approved  church, 
to  keep  it  free  from  the  contamination  not  only 
of  infidels  and  heretics,  but  also  from  Church-of- 
England  dissenters  and  from  all  others.  Accord- 
ingly she  placed  side  by  side  upon  her  statute 
book  a  Toleration  Act  with  a  proviso  in  favor  of 
her  Established  Church,  and  a  Church  platform 


LIBERTY  IN  CONNECTICUT  157 

with  a  proviso  for  "  sober  dissenters "  there- 
from. 

The  circumstances  which  led  up  to  and  en- 
forced the  passage  of  the  Toleration  Act  were 
many  and  varied.  The  motives  were  complex. 
Considerations  religious,  political,  social,  and 
economic  entered  into  the  problem  which  met 
the  Connecticut  legislators  when  they  found  their 
colony  falling  into  disfavor  with  the  King.  This 
problem,  resolved  into  its  simplest  terms,  con- 
sisted in  securing  continued  exemption  from  ex- 
ternal interference.  If  Connecticut  could  retain 
the  King's  approval,  she  could  prevent  the  in- 
trigues of  her  enemies  at  the  English  court  and 
could  control  the  situation  in  the  colony,  what- 
ever its  aspects,  secular  or  religious.  And  with 
reference  to  the  latter,  she  would  still  be  able  to 
exalt  her  Establishment  and  to  keep  dissenters, 
however  they  might  increase  in  kinds  or  numbers, 
in  a  properly  subordinated  position. 

In  order  to  obtain  a  grasp  of  the  situation 
within  the  colony  at  the  time  when  its  govern- 
ment concluded  that  the  passing  of  the  Toleration 
Act  would  be  politic,  it  is  necessary  to  examine 
the  status  of  the  dissenters  there.  Of  these  there 
were  four  classes,  the  Quakers  or  Society  of 
Friends,  the  Episcopalians,  the  Baptists,  and  the 
Rogerines.    Of  these,  the  Quakers  and  the  Epis- 


158    THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  RELIGIOUS 

copalians  were  the  first  to  make  the  Connecticut 
government  forcibly  realize  that,  if  she  interfered 
with  what  they  believed  to  be  their  rights,  there 
would  probably  have  to  be  a  settlement  with  the 
home  government.  But  as  the  efforts  of  these 
sects  to  interest  the  English  government  in  their 
behalf  run  parallel  with  and  mix  themselves  up 
with  other  complaints  against  Connecticut,  it  will 
make  the  history  of  the  times  clearer  if  the  early 
story  of  the  Baptists  and  Rogerines  is  first  told. 
The  Baptists  early  appeared  in  New  England, 
but  it  was  not  until  1665  that  Massachusetts 
permitted  their  organization  into  churches,  and 
not  until  1700,  only  eight  years  before  the 
Saybrook  Platform,  that  Cotton  Mather  wrote 
of  them,  "  We  are  willing  to  acknowledge  for 
our  brethren  as  many  of  them  as  are  willing  to 
be  acknowledged."  In  her  dislike  of  them,  Mas- 
sachusetts had  the  full  sympathy  of  Connecticut. 
And  it  was  with  great  dissatisfaction  that  the 
authorities  of  the  latter  colony  saw  these  dissent- 
ers, early  in  the  eighteenth  century,  crossing  the 
Rhode  Island  boundary  to  settle  within  her  terri- 
tory. Accordingly,  in  1704,  the  General  Court 
of  Connecticut  refused  them  permission  to  incor- 
porate in  church  estate.  When  in  the  following 
year,  in  spite  of  the  legislature's  refusal,  they 
organized  a  church  at  Groton  under  Valentine 


LIBERTY  IN  CONNECTICUT  159 

Wightman,0  the  Assembly  proceeded  to  inflict 
the  full  penalties  of  the  law.  While  the  Baptists 
had  cheerfully  paid  all  secular  taxes,  they  had 
made  themselves  liable  to  fines  and  imprison- 
ments by  their  refusal,  on  the  ground  of  con- 
science, to  pay  the  ecclesiastical  ones,  and,  as  they 
continued  to  refuse,  fines  and  imprisonment  and 
even  flogging  became  their  portion.  Governor 
Salton  stall,  mild  in  his  personal  attitude  toward 
the  three  other  groups  of  dissenters,  thoroughly 
disapproved  of  the  Baptists,  seeming  to  fear 
their  growing  influence  in  New  England  and 
their  increasing  importance  in  the  mother  coun- 
try. He  believed  in  a  policy  of  restriction  and 
oppression  toward  the  mere  handful  of  them 
that  had  settled  within  his  jurisdiction. 

Apart  from  the  main  body  of  the  Baptists, 
there  were  in  Connecticut  a  number  of  Seventh- 

a  Later  in  1707,  Mr.  Wightman  and  Mr.  John  Bulkley,  Con- 
gregationalist  minister  of  Colchester,  by  permission  of  the 
authorities,  who  were  troubled  by  the  rumor  that  the  Baptists 
and  Seventh-day  Baptists  were  about  to  begin  proselytizing-  in 
earnest  in  Connecticut,  entered  into  a  public  debate  as  to  the 
merits  of  their  respective  religious  beliefs.  Not  much  came  of 
it  to  the  Congregationalists,  who  had  expected  to  see  Mr. 
Wightman's  arguments  annihilated,  while  the  Baptists  had  a 
fine  opportunity  to  publish  broadcast  their  views.  Such  a  dis- 
cussion was  steadily  forbidden  Browne  and  Barrowe  in  1590. 
A  century  had  developed  sufficient  toleration  to  make  interest- 
ing, as  well  as  permissible,  a  public  discussion  of  divergent 
beliefs. 


160    THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  RELIGIOUS 

day  Baptists  and  Rogerine  Baptists  or  Rogerine 
Quakers.  There  were  a  very  few  of  them,  —  not 
more  than  a  dozen  in  1680.a  Setting  aside  the 
earliest  persecution  of  the  Quakers,  these  Roger- 
ines  were  the  first  dissenters  to  fall  under  the  dis- 
pleasure of  the  Connecticut  authorities.  They 
were  the  first  to  be  systematically  fined,  whipped, 
and  imprisoned  for  conducting  themselves  con- 
trary to  the  laws  for  the  support  and  honor  of 
the  Connecticut  Establishment.  For  this  reason, 
though  they  were  weak  in  numbers  and  often  an 
exasperating  set  of  fanatics,  they  deserve  a  hear- 
ing.   Their  persecution  began  about  1677,  while 

a  The  report  to  the  Commission  of  Trade  and  Foreign 
Plantations  made  in  1680  gave : 

"  26  Answ.  Our  people  in  this  colony  are  some  strict  Con- 
gregational men,  others  more  large  Congregational  men,  and 
some  moderate  Presbyterians,  and  take  the  Congregational  men 
of  both  sorts,  they  are  the  greatest  part  of  the  people  in  the 
colony. 

"  There  are  4  or  5  Seven-day  men,  in  our  Colony,  and  about 
so  many  Quakers. 

"  17  Answ.  (1)  Great  care  is  taken  for  the  instruction  of  ye 
people  in  ye  X'tian  religion,  by  ministers  catechising  of  them 
and  preaching  to  them  twice  every  Sabbath  daye  and  sometimes 
on  lecture  dayes ;  and  so  by  masters  of  famalayes  instructing 
and  catechising  the  children  and  servants  being  so  required  by 
law.  In  our  corporation  there  are  twenty-six  towns  and  twenty- 
one  churches.  There  is  in  every  town  in  the  colony  a  settled 
minister  except  in  two  towns  newly  begun."  —  This  was  equiv- 
alent to  one  minister  to  460  persons,  or  to  about  90  families. 
—  Conn.  Col.  Rec.  iii,  300.     Trumbull's  Hist,  of  Conn,  i,  397. 


LIBERTY  IN  CONNECTICUT  161 

these  people  were  chiefly  resident  in  New  London 
and  the  Seventh-day  men  were  mostly  members  of 
the  Rogers  family.  Later,  the  Rogerines  spread 
to  Norwich  and  Lebanon  and  their  immediate 
vicinity. 

This  sect  of  Rogerines  arose  from  the  inter- 
course through  trade  of  two  brothers,  John  and 
James  Rogers  of  New  London,  with  the  Sabba- 
tarians or  Seventh-day  Baptists  of  Rhode  Island. 
These  brothers  were  baptized  in  1674  and  1675, 
and  their  parents  in  the  following  year.  All  were 
received  as  members  of  the  Seventh-day  church 
at  Newport.  This  did  not  trouble  the  Connecticut 
authorities,  who  appear  not  to  have  interfered 
with  the  converts  until  they  committed  a  flagrant 
offense  and  put  public  dishonor  upon  the  colony 
church;  as  in  1677,  when  elders  of  the  Rhode 
Island  church  arrived  in  New  London  to  baptize 
the  wife  of  Joseph  Rogers,  another  brother  of  the 
first  two  converts.  The  elders  selected  for  their 
baptismal  ceremony  a  quiet  spot  about  two  miles 
from  the  town.  This  did  not  suit  John  Rogers, 
who  insisted  that  the  town  was  the  only  proper 
place,  and  led  the  little  procession  into  it.  Mr. 
Hiscox,  one  of  the  elders,  was  seized  while  preach- 
ing and  carried  before  the  magistrates,  but  was 
soon  released.  Deprived  of  their  leader,  the  Sab- 
batarians withdrew  to  another  place,  and  John 


162   THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  RELIGIOUS 

Rogers,  arrogating  to  himself  the  office  of  elder, 
performed  the  baptismal  service.  From  this 
time  forth  he  began  to  draw  disciples  to  himself. 
When  he  pushed  his  personal  opinions  too  far,  the 
Newport  church  attempted  to  discipline  both  him 
and  his  following,  but,  this  attempt  failing,  the 
Rogerines  became  henceforth  a  distinct  sect. 

The  Rogerines,  though  strictly  orthodox  in  the 
fundamental  articles  of  the  Christian  faith,  were 
opposed  by  the  Connecticut  magistrates  as 
teachers  of  doctrines  tending  to  undermine  reli- 
gion, as  a  persistently  rebellious  sect,  and  as  noto- 
rious breakers  of  the  peace.  In  faith  and  practice, 
these  Rogerines  bore  some  resemblance  to  the 
Baptists  and  also  to  the  Quakers.  Hence,  they 
were  often  called  Rogerine-Baptists  or  Rogerine- 
Quakers.  Like  the  earlier  Baptists  and  the 
Quakers,  they  believed  it  wrong  to  take  an  oath. 
They  differed  from  the  Congregationalists  chiefly 
in  their  form  of  administering  baptism  and  the 
Lord's  supper  and  in  their  opposition  to  any  paid 
ministry.  Rogers  also  claimed  that  there  were 
certain  tests  of  personal  regeneration  which  the 
Congregationalists  denied.  John  Bolles,  one  of 
the  later  leaders  of  the  sect,  declared  the  Congre- 
gational Sunday  to  be  "a  great  Idol  in  this 
Country,  and  all  the  Religion  built  on  the  Holi- 
ness of  the  pretended  Sabbath  is  Hypocrisy  and 


LIBERTY  IN  CONNECTICUT  163 

further  that  it  is  contrary  to  Scripture,  for  Chris- 
tians to  exercise  Authority  over  one  another  in 
matters  of  Religion." 67  Rogers,  with  less  dignity 
and  more  pugnaciousness,  called  the  authorities 
"  the  scarlet  beast  "  and  the  Establishment  a 
"  harlot,"  hurling  scriptural  texts  with  rankling, 
exasperating  abusiveness  in  his  determination  to 
prove  her  customs  evil  and  anti-Christian.  Not 
content  with  such  railing,  the  Rogerines  deter- 
mined to  show  no  respect  to  their  adversaries' 
opinions  and  worship.  Thus,  while  maintaining 
that  there  should  be  no  public  worship,  Rogers, 
after  his  separation  from  the  Seventh-day  Bap- 
tists, perversely  chose  Sunday  as  the  day  most 
convenient  for  the  Rogerines  to  hold  their  meet- 
ings. They  not  only  exhorted  and  testified  in  the 
streets,  but  forced  their  way  into  the  churches, 
pestering  the  ministers  to  argue  disputed  points. 
They  offended  in  another  way,  for,  according  to 
the  colony  law,  they  profaned  the  Sabbath  by 
working,  claiming  that,  as  all  days  were  holy,  all 
were  alike  good  for  work.  Fines  and  imprison- 
ment began  in  1677.  They  were  continued  in 
the  hope,  held  by  the  authorities,  that  they  could 
suppress  the  Rogerines  by  exactions  which  should 
melt  away  their  estates.  Sometimes  these  pen- 
alties were  unjust,  as  when  John  Rogers  could 
rightly  claim  that  he  was  sentenced  without  bene- 


164    THE  DEVELOPMENT   OF  RELIGIOUS 

fit  of  jury,  and,  at  another,  that  the  authorities  had 
seized  his  son's  cattle  to  settle  the  father's  fines. 
John  Bolles  pleaded  against  the  injustice  of  for- 
cing men  "  to  pay  Money  for  his  (the  minister's) 
preaching  when  they  did  not  hear  him  and  pro- 
fessed it  was  against  their  Consciences."  68  But 
such  a  plea  was  many,  many  years  in  advance  of 
his  time.  The  Rogerines,  important,  in  their  own 
estimate,  as  called  of  God,  and  angered  by  oppo- 
sition, seized  upon  every  scriptural  passage  that 
bade  them  exhort  and  testify,  feeling  it  their  duty 
to  do  so  both  in  season  and  out.  Had  they  been 
willing  to  give  up  this  practice  in  public,  they 
would  probably  have  been  left  in  comparative 
peace,  for  Governor  Saltonstall  wrote  to  Rogers 
offering  him  protection  for  his  followers  if  they 
would  consent  to  give  up  "  testifying  "  and  would 
hold  their  services  quietly  and  privately.  Rogers 
refused  upon  the  ground  that  he  had  a  right  to 
use  the  colony  churches  for  his  preaching,  since 
he  and  his  people  were  obliged  to  contribute  to 
their  maintenance.  This  was  logical,  but  not  ac- 
ceptable to  the  Connecticut  magistrates,  who  con- 
tinued to  cool  the  enthusiasm  of  the  Rogerines  by 
occasional  heavy  penalties,  and  to  look  upon  them 
as  a  set  of  fanatics,  doomed  to  self -extinction." 

The  attitude  of  the  Connecticut  authorities 
at  this  time  toward  the  Quakers,  or  Society  of 


LIBERTY   IN   CONNECTICUT  1G5 

Friends,  was  quite  different  from  that  assumed 
toward  the  Baptists  and  Rogerines.  A  retro- 
spect of  their  history  in  the  colony  shows  them 
to  have  been  the  earliest  dissenters,  and  also  the 
ones  to  whom  concessions,  though  only  tempo- 
rary, were  first  made.  Previous  to  the  Restora- 
tion, the  Quakers  were  the  only  dissenters  with 
whom  Connecticut  had  to  deal.  They  appeared  in 
Massachusetts  in  1655,  and  in  the  following  year 
New  Haven  colony  found  no  laws  could  be  too 
severe  for  the  "  cursed  sect  of  the  Quakers." 
The  General  Court  of  Connecticut  seconded  the 
efforts  of  both  New  Haven  and  Massachusetts 
to  exclude  the  obnoxious  and  determined  sect, 
but  it  soon  decided  that  its  fears  had  been  greatly 
exaggerated,  and  that  mild  laws  and  town  legis- 
lation were  sufficient.  Accordingly,  town  officers 
were  instructed  to  prevent  Quakers  settling  in 
the  colony,  to  forbid  their  books  and  writings, 
and  to  break  up  their  meetings.  It  was  forbid- 
den, however,  to  lay  upon  them  a  fine  of  more 
than  ten  pounds  or,  under  any  circumstances,  the 
death  penalty. 

While  New  Haven  whipped,   branded,    and 
transported    Quakers,a   Connecticut    mildly    en- 

a  Humphrey  Norton  in  the  New  Haven  colony  was  whipped 
severely,  hurnt  in  the  hand  with  the  letter  "H"  for  heretic, 
and  banished  for  being-  a  Quaker.  The  next  year,  for  testifying 
against  the  treatment  of  Norton,  William  Bond,  Mary  Dyer,  and 


1G6    THE   DEVELOPMENT   OF   RELIGIOUS 

forced  her  laws  against  them,69  and  how  mildly 
the  following  incidents  will  show.  In  1G58,  John 
Rous  and  John  Copeland,  traveling  preachers, 
reached  Hartford.  They  were  allowed  to  hold  a 
discussion  in  the  presence  of  the  governor  and 
magistrates  upon  "  God  is  a  Spirit."  At  its 
close,  they  were  courteously  informed  that  the 
laws  of  the  colony  forbade  their  remaining  in 
it,  and  were  requested  to  continue  without  further 
delay  their  journey  into  Rhode  Island.  This 
request  was  heeded,  but  while  on  their  way,  to 
quote  Rous,  "  The  Lord  gave  us  no  small  do- 
minion." It  would  seem  as  if  the  wise  Quaker 
had  taken  the  benefit  of  the  law  which  forbade 
his  remaining  "  more  than  fifteen  days  in  a  town," 
and,  also,  of  the  friendly  curiosity  of  the  people 
along  his  route.  Rous  further  testified  in  behalf 
of  Connecticut  that  "Among  all  the  colonies 
found  we  not  like  moderation  as  this ;  most  of  the 
magistrates  being  more  noble  than  those  of  the 
others."  70  A  short  time  after  Rous's  visit,  two 
Quakers,  who  persisted  in  holding  services,  were 
arrested  and  banished."    Still  later,  two  women 

Mary  Whetherstead  were  apprehended  by  the  same  authorities, 
and  forcibly  carried  back  to  Rhode  Island. —  H.  Rogers,  Mary 
Dyer,  p.  3G.  For  the  Quaker  Laws  of  both  colonies  see  Note 
09. 

a  The  notorious  William  Ledra  of  later  Massachusetts  fame 
was  one  of  these. 


LIBERTY   IN  CONNECTICUT  167 

who  attempted  to  conduct  services  in  Hartford 
met  with  similar  treatment,  of  whom  their  histo- 
rian records :  "  Except  that  some  extra  apparel 
which  they  took  with  them  was  sold  by  the  jaoler 
to  pay  his  fee,  no  act  of  persecution  befell  them 
at  Hartford."71  As  late  as  1676, when  the  Con- 
gregationalists  and  the  constables  of  New  London, 
with  great  violence,  broke  up  a  Friends'  meeting, 
held  by  William  Edmundson,  he  tells  us  that 
"  the  sober  people  were  offended  at  them," 72 
and  that  on  the  following  Sunday,  at  "  New 
Hartford"  (Hartford),  after  the  regular  morn- 
ing service,  he  was  allowed  to  speak  unhin- 
dered. The  same  afternoon,  when  he  attempted 
to  speak  in  another  meeting-house,  the  officers, 
urged  on  by  the  minister,  "  haled  me,"  he  writes, 
"  out  of  the  worship-house,  and  hurt  my  arm  so 
that  it  bled."  When  he  asked  them  if  they 
thought  that  was  the  right  treatment  of  a  man 
faint  from  fasting  all  day,  they,  with  excuses  for 
the  conduct  of  the  minister  and  the  magistrates, 
hurried  ,him  to  an  inn.  There  the  people  were 
allowed  to  listen  to  his  discourse,  and,  the  next 
morning,  he  was  bidden  to  go  freely  on  his  way. 
Most  of  the  Connecticut  Quakers  were  in  the 
border  towns.  Few,  if  any,  organized  societies 
were  formed  in  Connecticut  until  about  the  time 
of  the  Revolution.    Their  scattered  converts  were 


168    THE   DEVELOPMENT  OF  RELIGIOUS 

ministered  to  by  traveling  preachers,  and,  where 
possible,  members  would  cross  the  boundaries  to 
attend  the  Quarterly  or  Monthly  Meetings  in 
neighboring  Rhode  Island,  or  possibly  Massa- 
chusetts, or  on  Long  Island.  These  dissenters 
had  quickly  perceived  the  strength  of  union,  and 
as  early  as  1661  the  Rhode  Island  Yearly  Meet- 
ing had  been  established,  with  its  system  of  sub- 
ordinate Quarterly  and  Monthly  Meetings.  Soon 
after,  Yearly  Meetings  at  Philadelphia  brought 
reports  from  the  southern  and  middle  colonies. 
Those  at  Flushing,  Long  Island,  collected  news 
of  converts  from  New  York  as  far  east  as  the 
Connecticut  River,  while  the  Yearly  Meeting  at 
Newport,  Rhode  Island,  heard  from  all  members 
east  of  that  river.  The  custom  of  exchanging 
yearly  letters,  giving  the  gist  of  these  three 
annual  meetings,  was  soon  instituted.  After  the 
establishment  of  the  London  Yearly  Meeting,  the 
frequent  exchange  of  letters  with  the  colonial 
Quakers,  begun  in  1662,  was  reinforced  by  the 
exchange  of  English  and  American  preachers. 
By  similar  means,  the  whole  Society  the  world 
over  was  bound  closely  together.  Their  common 
interests  were  guarded,  and  every  infraction  of 
their  liberties  known.  If  in  any  of  the  colonies, 
as  in  Connecticut,  thejr  were  oppressed  for  their 
refusal  to  pay  ecclesiastical  taxes  and  to  bear 


LIBERTY  IN  CONNECTICUT  169 

arms,  the  facts  were  known  in  England.  Secular 
taxes  they  cheerfully  met,  but  others  were  against 
their  conscience.  They  were  excellent  citizens, 
and  they  were  everywhere  friendly  with  the 
Indians.  Because  of  this  friendship,  and  because 
the  Connecticut  colony  desired  the  good  offices 
of  the  Rhode  Island  authorities  during  the  dan- 
gerous King  Philip's  War,  the  General  Court 
had  decided  to  show  favor  to  the  few  Quakers 
who  were  then  within  the  colony.  Accordingly, 
in  1675,  a  bill  was  passed  temporarily  releasing 
the  Quakers  from  fines  for  absence  from  public 
worship,  provided  "  that  they  did  not  gather 
into  assemblies  within  the  colony  or  make  any 
disturbance."  How  long  this  law  was  operative 
is  uncertain,  but  probably  until  about  1702.  It, 
is  omitted  in  the  revision  of  the  laws  of  that  year, 
and  Gough,  in  his  "  History  of  the  People  called 
Quakers,"  says  that  the  persecuting  spirit  died 
away,  but  was  renewed  by  Connecticut  in  1702.° 
We  know  some  of  the  causes  that  probably  led 
to  its  revival,  such  as  the  extravagances  of  the 
E-ogerines,  the  increase  of  the  Baptists,  and  the 
general  feeling  that  the  Congregational  churches 
were  inherently  weak  among  themselves  before 

a  This  year  a  law  was  passed  requiring  every  person  to  care- 
fully apply  himself  on  the  Lord's  day  to  the  duties  of  religion. 
See  New  Haven  Hist.  Soc.  Papers,  ii,  399. 


170    THE   DEVELOPMENT  OF  RELIGIOUS 

this  threatening  increase  of  external  foes.  More- 
over, in  this  same  year,  there  began  a  very  def- 
inite propaganda  in  behalf  of  an  American 
episcopate.  The  attempt  to  revive  persecution 
against  the  Quakers  was  unfortunate.  They 
believed  in  liberty  of  conscience  as  a  natural, 
inalienable  right,  and  its  practical  exercise  they 
meant  to  have.  Their  leaders  were  constant  in 
their  loyal  addresses  and  dignified  petitions  to 
the  throne.  The  great  English  Toleration  Act 
had  befriended  them,  and  the  Act  of  1693  had, 
by  substituting  affirmation  for  oath,  allowed 
them  to  take  full  advantage  of  the  toleration 
measure.  Such  religious  liberty  as  they  enjoyed 
in  England,  they  meant  to  possess  in  England's 
colonies;  and  when  Connecticut,  in  1702,  again 
put  on  the  thumb-screws  of  persecution,  these 
dissenters  at  once  sent  a  protest  across  the  seas. 
Their  great  leader,  William  Penn,  was  again  in 
favor  at  court  and  with  the  Queen,  who,  in  Privy 
Council,  October  11, 1705,  favorably  heard  their 
petition  and  promptly  annulled  the  Connecticut 
law  of  1657  against  "  Heretics,  Infidels  and 
Quakers,"  declaring  it  void  and  repealed.  "  The 
repealing  of  this  Act  put  a  final  period  to  the 
persecuting  of  Quakers  in  New  England." 73  To 
be  more  exact,  it  put  an  end  to  persecution,  but 
not  to  occasional  fines  or  to  legalized  taxes  which 


LIBERTY  IN  CONNECTICUT  171 

the  Quakers  still  considered  unjust.  But  as  Con- 
necticut had  many  serious  problems  on  her  hands 
at  this  time,  she  thought  it  prudent  to  follow  the 
lead  of  the  Crown,  and  repealed  the  law  of  1657, 
in  so  far  as  it  applied  to  the  Quakers. 

The  year  that  the  Quakers  scored  this  victory, 
the  Episcopalians  lodged  with  the  home  govern- 
ment a  serious  complaint  of  the  intolerance  that 
Connecticut  showed  towards  members  of  the 
Church  of  England.    They  complained  that  — 

they  have  made  a  law  yl  no  christians  who  are  not 
of  their  community,  shall  meet  to  worship  God,  or 
have  a  minister  without  lycence  from  their  Assem- 
bly ;  which  law  even  extends  to  ye  Church  of  England, 
as  well  as  other  professions  tolerated  in  England.74 

This  was  not  the  first  time  that  such  a  complaint 
had  been  carried  to  England.    As  early  as  1665  a 

a  Articles  o  f  Law  Book  of  Conn,  printed  1670.  "  It 
Misdemeanor  vs.  is  ordered  that  when  the  ministry  of  the 
Connecticut,  July,  word  is  established  according  to  the  Gos- 
1665.  "  They  deny  pel,  throughout  this  Colony,  every  person 
to  the  inhabitants  shall  duly  resort  and  attend  thereunto  re- 
the  exercise  of  the  spectively  upon  the  Lord's  day,  upon  pub- 
religion  of  the  lie  fast  days  and  days  of  thanksgiving  as 
church  of  Eng-  are  generally  kept  by  appointment  of  au- 
land  ;  arbitrarily  thority  ;  and  any  person  .  .  .  without  neces- 
fining  those  who  sary  cause,  withdrawing  himself  from  the 
refuse  to  come  to  public  ministry  of  the  word,  he  shall  for- 
their  congrega-  feit  for  his  absence  from  every  such  meet- 
tional  a  s  s  e  m  -  ing  five  shillings."  —  Conn.  Col.  Bee.  iii, 
blies."  294. 


172    THE   DEVELOPMENT  OF  RELIGIOUS 

it  had  been  made,  within  a  year  after  Connecti- 
cut had  satisfied  the  Commissioners  of  Charles 
II,  sending  them  home  convinced  that  the  Church 
of  England  services  would  be  allowed  in  the  col- 
ony as  soon  as  there  were  settlers  who  desired 
them.a  As  there  were  no  Episcopalians  in  the 
colony  then,  nor  for  nearly  thirty  years  after- 
wards, and  as  Connecticut  was  in  high  favor 
with  the  Stuarts,  little  heed  was  paid  to  the 
complaint  at  the  time,  nor  until  long  years  after- 
wards, when  it  was  coupled  with  graver  offenses. 
Back  of  the  personal  affront  to  the  sovereign 
in  the  persecution  or  oppression  of  members  of 
the  Church  of  England,  there  were  graver  causes 
of  offense  such  as  the  Crown  regarded  as  mistakes, 
or  even  misdemeanors.  For  many  years  Con- 
necticut had  been  virtually  an  independent  and 
sovereign  state  within  her  own  borders.  Her 
charter  was  a  most  liberal  one.  She  had  sought 
approval  for  it  from  the  sovereigns,  William  and 
Mary,  and,  while  she  had  been  unable  to  obtain 
for  it  the  crown's  expressed  approval,  she  had 

a  They  reported  that  the  colony  would  ''  not  hinder  any  from 
enjoying  the  sacraments  and  using  the  common  prayer  hook, 
provided  that  they  hinder  not  the  maintenance  of  the  puhlic 
minister."  —  Hutchinson,  Hist,  of  Mass.,  p.  412. 

Dr.  Beardsley  suggests  that  influential  citizens  may  have 
assured  them  that  the  laws  would  he  modified  to  accommodate 
Episcopalians.  —  E.  E.  Beardsley,  Hist,  of  the  Episcopal  Church, 
i,  p.  110. 


LIBERTY  IN  CONNECTICUT  173 

secured  from  the  best  legal  talent  a  judgment 
declaring  it  still  valid.  She  continued  to  be 
practically  exempt  from  external  interference 
with  her  domestic  policy  for  a  number  of  years 
after  the  Revolution  of  1688,  yet  from  that  time 
on  there  was  always  at  the  English  court  a 
party,  at  first  largely  influenced  by  Sir  Edmund 
Andros  and  his  following,  who  were  either  jeal- 
ous of  Connecticut's  charter  or  envious  of  her 
prosperity.  They  were  always  scheming  and 
ready  to  prejudice  the  king  against  his  colony, 
or  to  antagonize  the  Board  of  Trade. 

Within  her  own  borders,  Connecticut  was 
peaceful,  prosperous,  and  contented.  For  the 
most  part,  she  was  free  from  the  harassing  danger 
of  Indian  war.  She  readily  contributed  her  share 
for  the  common  defense  of  the  colonies,  and  sent 
her  loyal  quotas  to  fight  for  England's  territorial 
claims.  For  many  years,  Connecticut  was  shrewd 
enough  to  steer  clear  of  the  disastrous  inflation 
of  paper  currency  which  overtook  her  sister  col- 
onies. Many  strangers  were  attracted  by  her 
prosperity,  so  that,  notwithstanding  frequent  emi- 
grations of  her  people,  she  trebled  her  popula- 
tion about  once  in  twenty  years  all  through  the 
first  century  of  her  existence.0   With  this  increas- 

«  Population  in  1656,  800 ;   1665,  9000 ;    1670-80,  10,000- 
14,000;    1689,  17,000-20,000;    1730,  approximately,  50,000; 


174    THE   DEVELOPMENT  OF  RELIGIOUS 

ing  population  came,  in  the  latter  part  of  the 
seventeenth  century,  members  of  the  Church  of 
England,  who  settled  in  Stratford  and  in  the 
towns  adjacent  to  New  York.a  They  quickly 
found  that  their  previous  impressions  were  erro- 
neous, and  that  Connecticut  would  not  tolerate 
their  religious  services.  Consequently,  a  report 
of  the  religious  condition  in  Connecticut  was 
made  in  England,  in  1702,  at  about  the  time  the 
Quakers  complained  of  renewed  persecution  and 
at  a  time  when  the  enemies  of  the  colony  were 
extremely  active  in  charging  her  with  miscon- 
duct. 

A  report  of  Connecticut's  ecclesiastical  consti- 
tution and  of  her  oppression  of  dissenters  was 
made  to  the  Bishop  of  London  by  John  Talbot, 
who,  with  George  Keith,  had  traveled  through 
Connecticut  on  his  way  from  New  York  to 
Boston.  These  men  were  missionary  priests  of 
the  Church  of  England.  In  New  London,  Gov- 
ernor Saltonstall,  then  the  minister  of  that  town, 

1756,  130,000;  1761, 145,000;  1776,  200,000;  1780,  237,946.— 
F.  B.  Dexter,  Estimates  of  the  Population  of  the  American 
Colonies,  in  American  Antiquarian  Society  Proceedings,  2d 
series,  vol.  5. 

a  Up  to  1680,  there  was  only  one  Episcopal  clergyman  in 
New  England,  Father  Jordan,  of  Portsmouth,  N.  H.  There 
was  an  Episcopal  clergyman  at  the  fort  in  New  York,  and  out- 
side of  Virginia  and  Maryland  only  two  others  in  North  Amer- 
ica.   There  were  a  few  Episcopal  families  in  Stratford  in  1600. 


LIBERTY  IN  CONNECTICUT  175 

knowing  that  there  were  a  few  Church-of -England 
men  in  the  place,  had  met  the  travelers, "  civilly 
entertained  them  at  his  house,"  and  "  invited 
them  to  preach  in  his  church."  75  The  Governor 
might  not,  the  magistrates  certainly  did  not,  feel 
so  kindly  disposed  toward  Talbot  a  year  or  so 
later,  when  it  was  found  that,  upon  his  return 
to  New  York,  he  had  written  home  to  his  supe- 
riors in  England,  earnestly  advocating  an  Ameri- 
can episcopate.  True,  he  urged  that  the  American 
bishop  should  have  ecclesiastical  powers  only, 
and  that  those  ecclesiastico-civil  in  character, 
such  as  the  probating  of  wills,  granting  of  mar- 
riage licenses,  and  the  presentation  of  livings, 
should  remain  in  the  hands  of  the  colonial  gov- 
ernors. But  the  Connecticut  authorities  were 
not  forgetful  of  Laud's  purpose  in  1638  to 
appoint  a  bishop  over  New  England,  and  its  frus- 
tration by  the  political  unrest  at  home.  They 
recalled  that  the  revival  of  such  a  project  had 
floated  as  a  rumor  about  those  royal  commis- 
sioners of  1664  to  whom  they  had  given  such 
satisfactory,  if  evasive,  answers.  Moreover,  an 
Order  in  Council  of  1685,  of  which  there  is  ex- 
ternal evidence,  though  the  order  itself  is  not 
recorded,  had  vested  ecclesiastical  jurisdiction 
over  the  colonies  in  the  Bishop  of  London.76 
Connecticut  knew  also  that  four  years  later,  in 


176    THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  RELIGIOUS 

1689  (the  year  that  Episcopacy  erected  King's 
Chapel,  Boston,  with  its  royal  endowment  of 
X100  per  year),  the  first  commissary  had  been 
dispatched  to  Virginia  to  superintend  the 
churches  there.  The  Crown,  as  yet,  had  deemed 
it  unwise  to  thrust  an  episcopate  upon  its  dissent- 
ing colonies,  and,  except  for  a  short  time  before 
Queen  Anne's  death,  it  was  to  take  no  interest 
in  the  plans  for  the  American  episcopate  until 
some  forty  years  later,  when  the  King  thought  to 
discern  in  it  some  political  advantage.  But  early 
in  1700,  when  complaints  were  lodged  against 
Connecticut,  there  was  a  strong  party  within  the 
English  Church  itself  who  were  most  anxious 
to  see  the  episcopal  bond  between  the  mother 
country  and  her  colonies  strengthened.  For  this 
purpose,  they  had  sent  to  America,  in  1695,  the 
Reverend  Thomas  Bray  to  report  upon  the  condi- 
tions and  churchly  sentiment  within  the  colonies. 
His  report  was  published  under  the  title,  "  A 
Memorial  representing  the  State  of  Religion 
in  the  Continent  of  North  America."  It  was  an 
appeal  for  episcopal  oversight,  and  resulted  in  the 
formation  in  England,  in  1701,  of  the  Society  for 
the  Propagation  of  the  Gospel  in  Foreign  Parts. 
To  this  organization  belonged  all  the  English 
bishops  with  all  their  influential  following.  The 
Society  regularly  maintained  missionary  churches 


LIBERTY  IN  CONNECTICUT  177 

and  missionary  priests  throughout  the  colonies. 
Candidates  for  this  priesthood  were  required  to 
submit  to  a  thorough  examination  as  to  their 
fitness.  Before  sailing,  they  were  required  to 
report  to  the  Bishop  of  London  as  their  Diocesan 
and  to  the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury  as  their 
Metropolitan.  They  were  required  to  send  full 
semi-annual  reports  of  their  work  and  to  include 
in  them  any  other  information  that  promised  to 
be  of  interest  or  advantage  to  the  Society.  John 
Talbot  and  George  Keith  were  two  of  these  mis- 
sionaries. 

Talbot's  appeal  for  the  American  episcopate 
was  seconded  in  1705  by  fourteen  clergymen 
from  the  middle  colonies  who  convened  at  Bur- 
lington, N.  J.,  to  frame  a  petition  to  the  Eng- 
lish archbishop  and  bishops.  In  it  they  set 
forth  the  necessity  in  America  of  a  bishop  to 
ordain  and  to  supply  other  ecclesiastical  needs. 
The  petitioners  added  that  a  bishop  was  also 
necessary  to  counteract  "  the  inconveniences 
which  the  church  labors  under  by  the  influ- 
ence which  seditious  men's  counsels  have  upon 
the  public  administration  and  the  opposition 
which  they  make  to  the  good  inclinations  of  well- 
affected  persons."  77  In  this  appeal  for  a  bishop 
stress  was  laid  upon  the  cost  and  dangers  of  a 
trip  to  England  for  ordination,78  and  also  to  the 


178    THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  RELIGIOUS 

frequent  loss  of  converts  from  the  independent 
ministry  because  of  the  lack  of  ordination  privi- 
leges in  America.  These  references,  and  also 
that  to  the  "  counsel  of  seditious  men,"  could 
not  be  agreeable  to  large  numbers  of  dissenting 
colonists.  They  would  not  be  viewed  with  favor 
in  Connecticut,  where,  by  1705,  Episcopalians 
had  become  so  numerous  that  a  wealthy  New 
Yorker,  Colonel  Heathcote  by  name,  and  a  man 
thoroughly  acquainted  with  his  New  England 
neighbor,  undertook  to  look  after  the  Church-of- 
England  men  as  unfortunate  brethren  of  a  com- 
mon faith.  He  appealed  to  the  English  Society 
for  the  Propagating  °  of  the  Gospel  in  Foreign 
Parts  to  extend  its  missions  into  Connecticut. 
He  asked  that  Rector  Muirson  be  stationed 
at  Rye,  New  York.  Colonel  Heathcote's  idea 
was:  — 

to  first  plant  the  church  securely  in  Westchester  on 
the  border  of  Connecticut ;  and  secondly,  from  that 
point  to  act  upon  Connecticut,  which  was  wholly 
Puritan  and  withal  not  a  little  bigoted  and  unchari- 
table. 

Naturally,  whatever  of  tolerance  the  Connecticut 
people  might  have  shown  two  traveling  preach- 
ers would  turn  to  opposition  when  they  saw  the 
deliberate    and  well-organized   attempt  of   this 

«  Or  "  Propagation,"  — as  it  is  most  frequently  called. 


LIBERTY  IN  CONNECTICUT  179 

proselyting  church,  this  old  enemy  of  their  fore- 
fathers, to  invade  their  colony  and  undermine 
their  own  Establishment.  Consequently,  when, 
in  company  with  Mr.  Muirson,  Colonel  Heath- 
cote  began  itinerating  through  southwestern  Con- 
necticut, ministers  and  magistrates  frequently 
opposed  and  threatened  them.  The  people  occa- 
sionally welcomed  them.  They  did  not  object 
to  hear  and  to  criticise  the  strangers,  and  were 
sometimes  willing  to  have  their  good  neighbors, 
if  they  chanced  to  be  Church-of-England  men, 
enjoy  the  ministrations  of  these  passing  visitors. 
In  some  places,  however,  the  civil  officers  went 
so  far  as  to  go  about  among  the  people,  even  from 
house  to  house,  to  dissuade  them  from  attend- 
ing Mr.   Muirson's   services,0  and,  at  Fairfield, 

a  Mr.  Muirson's  report  after  his  first  visit  to  Stratford  was 
that  he  had  had  "  a  very  numerous  congregation  both  fore- 
noon and  afternoon."  He  continues,  "  I  baptized  about  twenty- 
four  persons  the  same  day.  ..."  The  Independents  threat- 
ened me  and  all  who  were  instrumental  in  bringing  me  thither, 
with  prison  and  hard  usage.  They  are  very  mnch  incensed  to 
see  the  Church  (Rome's  sister,  as  they  ignorantly  call  her)  is 
likely  to  gain  ground  among  'em,  and  use  all  stratagem  they 
can  invent  to  defeat  my  enterprise."  —  Church  Doc.  Conn.,  i, 
p.  17. 

Colonel  Heathcote  wrote,  "The  Ministers  are  very  uneasy 
at  our  coming  amongst  them,  and  abundance  of  pains  were 
taken  to  persuade  and  terrify  the  people  from  hearing  Mr. 
Muirson,  but  it  availed  nothing ;  "  —  not  even  the  threat  to 
jail  the  rector  for  holding  services  contrary  to  the  colony  law 


180    THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  RELIGIOUS 

the  meeting-house  was  closed  lest  it  should  be 
"defiled  by  idolatrous  worship  and  supersti- 
tious ceremonies."  79  The  Episcopalians  them- 
selves later  acknowledged  that,  until  1709,  they 
suffered  little  persecution  beyond  "  that  of  the 
tongue."  °  When  they  were  not  permitted  to 
organize  churches,  and  were  forced  to  pay  taxes 
for  the  support  of  Congregationalism,  they  com- 
plained bitterly  to  their  friends  in  England,  and 
such  oppression  was  listed  among  the  many  other 
misdemeanors,  which,  at  this  time,  were  cited 
against  the  former  "  dutiful  colony  of  Connecti- 
cut." 

One  of  the  schemes  that  Connecticut's  enemies 
sought  to  carry  out,  both  for  their  own  advance- 
ment, and  as  a  proposed  punishment  for  an 
unruly  colony,  was  a  consolidation  of  the  New 
England  provinces  under  a  royal  governor.  This 
consolidation  was  approached  when  Governor 
Fletcher  of  New  York  was  appointed  military 
chief  of  Connecticut.  His  attempt,  in  1693,  to 
enforce  his  military  authority  over  Connecticut 
troops  engaged  in  protecting  the  northern  fron- 
tier, resulted  in   his  failure,  and  in  his  angry 

•which  the  magistrates  had  read  to  him  at  his  lodgings. — 
Church  Doc.  Conn.,  i,  p.  20. 

a  "  We  received  no  persecution  than  that  of  the  tongue 
until  December,  1709."  —  Ibid.,  i,  p.  42. 


LIBERTY   IN  CONNECTICUT  181 

report  to  the  home  authorities  of  Connecticut's 
insubordination  and  disloyalty.  The  colony  at 
great  expense  sent  Major  Fitz-John  Winthrop 
to  England  to  answer  these  charges.  He  was 
successful  in  proving  that  Connecticut  had  not 
exceeded  her  charter  rights  in  her  determination 
to  appoint  her  own  military  officers  ;  that,  in  the 
wars,  she  had  faithfully  contributed  her  share  to 
the  common  defense ;  and  moreover,  that  it  was 
essential  that  she  should  have  the  immediate 
control  of  her  own  troops  to  quell  internal  dis- 
order, should  it  arise,  or  to  repel  the  sudden 
approach  of  an  enemy  upon  her  exposed  borders. 
Major  Winthrop  also  succeeded  in  having  the 
colony's  military  obligations  defined  as  the  fur- 
nishing to  the  common  defense  of  a  number  of 
her  militia,  proportionate  to  her  population  and 
to  be  under  their  own  officers,  and  in  war  time 
a  further  draft  of  a  hundred  and  twenty  men  to 
be  under  the  direct  control  of  the  governor  of 
New  York.  Notwithstanding  the  splendid  suc- 
cess of  Winthrop' s  mission,  this  same  charge  of 
insubordination  was  repeated  in  a  long  and  later 
list  of  grievances  against  the  colony. 

The  consolidation  scheme  was  revived  by  the 
appointment  of  Governor  Bellomont  over  New 
York,  New  Jersey,  Massachusetts,  New  Hamp- 
shire, and  as  military  head  of  Rhode  Island  and 


182    THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  RELIGIOUS 

Connecticut;  but  the  governor  never  tried  to 
enforce  his  authority  in  Connecticut.  In  1701 
and  1706,  bills  aiming  at  this  proposed  consoli- 
dation were  introduced  into  Parliament.  That 
of  1701  failed  of  consideration  from  "  short- 
ness of  time  and  multiplicity  of  issues."  In 
1704  an  attempt  was  made  to  secure  the  ap- 
pointment of  a  royal  governor  over  Connecticut 
through  an  Order  in  Council,  but  that  body 
preferred  to  leave  the  matter  to  Parliament, — 
hence  the  bill  of  1706  favoring  consolidation 
which  failed  of  passage  in  the  Lords.  It  failed 
largely  because  of  the  energy  and  eloquence  of 
Sir  Henry  Ashurst,  the  Connecticut  agent. 

Sir  Henry  also  succeeded  in  getting  a  copy 
of  the  various  charges  against  the  colony,  which 
were  thought  to  justify  annulling  her  charter, 
and  in  obtaining  a  grant  of  time  to  submit  them 
to  the  Connecticut  General  Court  for  a  reply. 
The  colony  found  that  it  was  charged  with  en- 
couraging violations  of  the  Navigation  Laws  ; 
with  holding  in  contempt  the  Courts  of  Admi- 
ralty ;  with  failing  to  furnish  troops  and  to  place 
them  under  officers  of  the  Crown  ;  with  executing 
capital  punishment  without  any  authority  in  her 
charter ;  with  encouraging  manufactures,  con- 
trary to  the  known  wishes  of  the  Crown ;  with 
irregular   and   unjust  court  proceedings ;  with 


LIBERTY   IN  CONNECTICUT  183 

treating  contumaciously  the  royal  commissioners 
sent  to  settle  the  Mohegan  land  controversy  ; 
with  injustice  to  the  Quakers ;  with  forbidding 
services  of  the  Church  of  England ;  and  with 
disallowing  appeals  to  England.  These  were  the 
more  important  complaints.  In  behalf  of  the 
colony,  Sir  Henry  appeared  before  the  Privy 
Council,  and  in  able  argument  showed  that 
many  of  the  charges  were  without  foundation  ; 
that  some  of  the  colony's  acts  which  were  com- 
plained of  as  unlawful  were  well  within  her 
charter  privileges ;  and  that  the  decisions  of  her 
courts,  far  from  being  illegal,  had,  in  nearly 
every  case,  when  brought  to  the  attention  of  the 
English  government,  been  approved  by  it.  Fur- 
ther than  this,  the  Connecticut  agent  obtained  a 
stay  in  the  proceedings  of  the  Mohegan  case," 

a  The  Mohegan  Indians  had  sold  certain  lands  to  the  colony 
in  1659,  Major  John  Mason  acting  as  agent.  These  lands  had 
been  conveyed  to  English  proprietors.  John  Mason,  the 
major's  grandson,  representing  his  own  and  other  interests, 
pretended  that  both  his  grandfather  and  the  Indians  had  been 
overreached  and  wronged  by  the  colony  in  the  transaction ; 
that  the  colony  had  taken  more  land  than  agreed  upon  from 
the  Indians,  and  had  also  seized  some  that  belonged  by  private 
purchase  to  the  Mason  heirs.  For  the  sake  of  peace  and  the 
credit  of  magnanimity,  the  government  offered  to  the  chief, 
Owaneco,  who  represented  the  Indians,  to  pay  them  again  for 
the  land,  but  Mason  and  his  party  resolved  to  prevent  such  a 
settlement.  One  of  them  went  to  England  with  a  false  report 
of  extortion  practiced  upon  the  savages,  and  a  commission  was 


184    THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  RELIGIOUS 

though  it  was  soon  reopened  and  seriously  men- 
aced the  colony  until  the  settlement  in  her  favor 
in  1743.  In  the  famous  Liveen  or  Hallam  case, 
Connecticut  opposed  an  appeal  to  the  Crown, 
because  such  an  appeal  would  give  the  Privy 
Council  the  right  to  interpret  the  charter  and 
pass  upon  the  colony  laws.a    Though  Sir  Henry 

sent  out  to  investigate.  Connecticut  was  willing  to  answer  the 
commissioners  if  they  sought  facts  for  a  report,  but  when  they 
assumed  the  right  to  decide  the  question  judicially,  the  colony 
could  only  protest  against  their  pretensions.  The  commission- 
ers adjudged  the  land  in  dispute  to  the  Indians  and  the  Mason 
party,  and  charged  the  colony  nearly  £600  and  costs.  The 
colony  appealed  to  the  Crown  and  won  the  case  in  1743 ;  but 
it  was  again  appealed  by  Mason,  and  in  this  fashion  dragged 
along  until  after  the  Revolution,  when  the  Indians  were  con- 
tent to  accept  the  reservation  allotted  by  the  State  to  them. 
—  C.  W.  Bowen,  Boundary  Disputes,  pp.  25-27. 

a  John  Liveen  of  New  London  in  16S9  left  property  to  the 
"  ministry  of  the  town."  Major  Fitz- John  Winthrop  and  his 
brother-in-law  Edward  Palmes  were  executors.  Major  Win- 
throp was  absent  with  the  army  on  the  northern  frontier,  but 
made  no  objection  to  the  probating  of  the  will  at  a  special 
court  in  New  London  in  1689.  This  probating  Major  Palmes, 
a  former  friend  of  Andros,  declared  void,  since  Andros  had 
ruled  that  all  wills  should  be  probated  at  Boston.  Upon  spe- 
cial application  of  Mrs.  Liveen,  in  1690,  the  county  court  pro- 
bated a  copy  of  the  will,  since  Palmes  held  the  original.  To 
this  probating  the  latter  also  objected  on  the  ground  that, 
though  the  court  had  been  again  legalized,  the  "  ministry " 
referred  to  must  be  that  recognized  by  the  English  law  and  not 
the  Congregational  ministry  of  the  town,  —  the  only  one  then 
existing.  The  colonial  courts  decided  against  him,  and  John 
and  Nicholas  Hallam,  the  widow's  sons  by  a  former  marriage, 


LIBERTY  IN  CONNECTICUT  185 

Asliurst  had  succeeded  in  having  many  of  the 
charges  dropped,  the  danger  had  been  so  great 
to  the  colony  that  he  privately  advised  the  gov- 
ernment to  conciliate  the  Crown  by  protesting 
its  immediate  readiness  to  fulfill  all  military 
obligations,  and,  as  a  further  proof  of  loyalty, 
to  repeal  at  once  the  old  law  of  1657  against 
heretics  which  Queen  Anne  had  just  annulled 
(October  11,  1705)  at  the  request  of  the  Quak- 
ers. The  General  Court,  as  we  have  seen,  fol- 
lowed his  advice,  and  repealed  the  law  in  so  far 
as  it  concerned  Quakers.  But  this  was  not 
enough  to  satisfy  other  dissenters  in  the  colony. 
The  Rev.  John  Talbot  had  arrived  in  England 
in  1706  to  plead  in  person  80  for  an  American 

virtually  accepted  the  terms  of  the  will  and  the  court's  deci- 
sion by  being  parties  to  the  sale  of  a  portion  of  the  Liveen 
estate,  the  ship  "  Liveen."  The  estate  could  not  be  wholly 
settled ;  so  the  town  continued  to  receive  a  regular  dividend 
until  after  the  widow's  death  in  1698.  Then  the  sons  attempted 
to  contest  the  will.  The  Court  of  Assistants  confirmed  the 
proceedings  of  the  lower  courts.  Not  satisfied  with  this  deci- 
sion, Nicholas  Hallam  went  to  England  in  1700-1702,  and  was 
allowed  to  plead  his  case  before  the  Privy  Council.  Sir  Henry 
Ashurst  held  that  the  charter  gave  the  right  of  final  decision, 
but  the  Lords  Commissioners  of  Trade  and  Plantations  thought 
otherwise,  and  it  looked  as  if  Hallam  was  to  win  his  case, 
when  he  was  ordered  to  return  to  America  and,  because  of 
technicalities,  to  retake  all  the  testimony.  In  1704,  because 
of  his  acknowledged  signature  in  the  sale  of  the  "  Liveen," 
the  suit  was  decided  in  favor  of  the  colony.  —  F.  M.  Caulkins, 
Hist,  of  New  London,  pp.  222-228. 


186    THE   DEVELOPMENT  OF  RELIGIOUS 

bishop,  and  Colonel  Heathcote  in  1707  wrote  81 
with  respect  to  the  Episcopalians  in  Connecticut 
that  it  would  be  absolutely  necessary  to  procure 
an  order  from  the  Queen  freeing  the  Church  of 
England  people  from  the  established  rates,  or 
they  would  always  be  so  poor  as  to  be  depend- 
ent upon  the  Society  for  Propagating  the  Gos- 
pel. He  further  asked  the  repeal  of  the  law 
whereby  the  Connecticut  magistrates  "  refuse 
liberty  of  conscience  to  those  of  the  established 
(English)  church."  Colonel  Heathcote  adds 
that  it  would  not  be  much  more  than  had  been 
granted  to  the  Quakers,  and  that  it  "  would  be 
of  the  greatest  service  to  the  Church  than  can 
at  first  sight  be  imagined." 

So  great  was  the  importunity  of  the  Con- 
necticut Episcopalians,  that,  in  1708,  Governor 
Saltonstall  wrote  to  England  to  disarm  their 
complaints  against  the  colony.  It  looked  as  if 
religious  discontent  might  become  a  dangerous 
thing.  Koyal  disfavor  certainly  would  be.  It 
might  be  better  to  condone  the  lack  of  religious 
uniformity  among  a  few  scattered  dissenters, 
differing  among  themselves,  and  to  endure  it, — 
obnoxious  as  it  was,  —  than  to  suffer  the  loss  of 
the  Connecticut  charter.  Moreover,  this  tendency 
to  the  spread  of  nonconformity  might  be  con- 
trolled by  judicious  legislation.    Furthermore,  it 


LIBERTY  IN  CONNECTICUT  187 

would  be  politic  to  have  upon  the  colony  law- 
book some  relief  for  dissenters  from  its  Estab- 
lishment similar  to  the  English  statutes  relieving 
nonconformists  there  from  adherence  to  the 
Church  of  England.  Hence  the  Toleration  Act, 
and,  of  necessity,  the  proviso  in  the  act  of  the 
following  session  of  the  General  Court  whereby 
it  approved  the  Saybrook  Platform. 

The  Toleration  Act  was  of  no  benefit  to  Roger- 
ine  or  Quaker,  who  by  their  principles  were  for- 
bidden to  take  the  oath  of  allegiance  that  it 
demanded.  It  was  of  little  practical  advantage 
to  Baptist  or  Episcopalian,  but  it  was  a  move  in 
the  right  direction.  According  to  its  terms,  dis- 
senters, before  the  county  courts,  could  qualify 
for  organization  into  distinct  religious  bodies  by 
taking  the  oath  of  fidelity  to  the  crown,  by  deny- 
ing transubstantiation  and  by  declaring  their 
sober  dissent  from  Congregationalism.  They 
could  have  such  liberty,  provided  that  it  in 
no  way  worked  to  the  detriment  of  the  church 
established  in  the  colony,  —  that  is,  the  law  did 
not  exclude  any  dissenter  "  from  paying  any 
such  (established)  minister  or  town  dues  as  are 
or  shall  hereafter  be  due  from  him." 

At  best,  such  toleration  would  provide  a  rigorous 
test  of  a  dissenter's  sincerity.  He  would  have  no- 
thing of  worldly  advantage  to  gain  and  much  to 


188    THE   DEVELOPMENT  OF  RELIGIOUS 

lose  as  a  "  come-outer  "  from  the  Establishment. 
Social  prestige  would  remain  almost  entirely 
within  the  state  church.  It  would  be  to  a  man's 
pecuniary  advantage  to  stay  within  its  fold. 
Without  it,  he  would  be  doubly  taxed ;  by  the 
State  for  the  support  of  Congregationalism,  by 
his  conscience  to  maintain  the  church  it  ap- 
proved. If  he  lapsed  in  duty  toward  his  own, 
he  would  easily  become  a  marked  man  among 
his  few  co-religionists.  If  he  failed  to  attend 
regularly  the  church  of  his  choice,  the  ancient 
law  of  the  colony  would  hale  him  before  the 
judge  for  neglect  of  public  worship,  and  fine 
him  for  the  benefit  of  a  form  of  religion  which 
he  viewed  with  aversion  as  unscriptural,  if  not 
also  anti-Christian.  In  a  new  and  thinly  settled 
country  where  life  was  hard  and  money  scarce, 
this  double  taxation  was  of  itself  almost  prohibi- 
tive of  dissent.  And  yet  this  Toleration  Act, 
notwithstanding  its  meagre  terms,  and  which, 
considered  in  the  light  of  the  twentieth  century, 
implies  one  of  the  worst  forms  of  tyranny,  was  a 
measure  of  undreamed-of  and  dangerous  liberal- 
ity if  looked  at  from  the  point  of  view  of  the  six- 
teenth century,  or  even  from  that  of  many  princes 
of  the  eighteenth.  The  very  summer  following 
the  passage  of  this  act  saw  London  crowded 
with  refugees  from  the  religious  tyranny  of  the 


LIBERTY  IN   CONNECTICUT  189 

Palatinate,  whose  Elector  was  determined  to 
force  the  people,  after  over  a  hundred  and  thirty- 
years  of  Protestantism,  back  to  Rome  because  he 
was  himself  a  Romanist,  and  imperii  religio 
religio  populi.  The  Connecticut  law-makers 
had  a  good  deal  of  faith  in  this  same  prin- 
ciple, though  they  never  had  resorted,  and 
did  not  wish  to  do  so,  to  extreme  penalties  to 
secure  religious  uniformity.  The  solidarity  of 
the  people  and  the  geographical  position  of  the 
colony  had  contributed  largely  to  a  uniform 
church  life.  Far  from  the  usual  ports  of  entry, 
the  early  dissenters  had  for  the  most  part  passed 
her  by.  But  at  the  beginning  of  the  eighteenth 
century,  watching  the  signs  of  the  times  else- 
where, and  aware  of  the  cosmopolitan  element 
creeping  into  her  population,  the  Connecticut  au- 
thorities were  ready  to  admit  that  soon  it  might 
be  necessary  to  modify  somewhat  the  old  dictum 
that  the  religion  of  the  government  must  be  the 
religion  of  all  its  people.  England  had  seen  fit 
to  make  such  modification,  and  her  test  of  roughly 
twenty  years  had  shown  conclusively  that  religious 
toleration  and  civil  disorders  were  not  synony- 
mous, as  had  formerly  been  believed.  The  Con- 
necticut colony  had  no  particular  desire  to  fol- 
low in  England's  steps.  If  it  had,  after-history 
would  have  associated  it  in  men's  minds  less  with 


190  RELIGIOUS  LIBERTY  IN  CONNECTICUT 

the  Puritanical  narrowness  of  New  England  and 
more  with  such  tolerance  as  was  shown  in  Penn- 
sylvania, Maryland,  and  Rhode  Island.  Toler- 
ance, Connecticut  thought,  might  work  well 
under  a  government  like  that  of  England,  but 
her  leaders  were  not  convinced  that  it  would  be 
altogether  wise  for  their  own  land.  They,  there- 
fore, had  preferred  to  postpone  as  long  as  they 
could  the  possible  evil  day.  Now  that  toleration 
could  no  longer  be  delayed,  they  had  admitted 
it  most  guardedly,  and  at  once  had  proceeded  to 
strengthen  their  own  church  foundations  by  the 
establishment  of  the  Saybrook  system  of  eccle- 
siastical government. 


CHAPTER  VIII 

THE   FIKST   VICTORY   FOR   DISSENT 

Ye  shall  not  therefore  oppress  one  another ;  but  thou  shalt 
fear  thy  God ;  for  I  am  the  Lord  your  God.  —  Leviticus,  xxv, 
17. 

The  dissenters  found  the  terms  of  the  Toleration 
Act  too  narrow  ;  the  conditions  under  which  they 
could  enjoy  their  own  church  life  too  onerous. 
Consequently,  they  almost  immediately  began  to 
agitate  for  a  larger  measure  of  liberty,  and  per- 
sisted in  their  demands  for  almost  twenty  years 
before  obtaining  any  decided  success. 

Foremost  among  the  dissenters  pressing  for 
greater  liberty,  for  exemption  from  taxes  for  the 
benefit  of  Congregational  worship,  and  for  the 
same  privileges  in  the  support  of  their  own 
churches  as  the  members  of  the  Connecticut  Es- 
tablishment enjoyed,  were  the  Episcopalians.  The 
year  following  the  passage  of  the  Toleration  Act 
witnessed  the  first  persecution  of  these  people 
beyond  that  of  tongue  and  pen.  Fines  and  im- 
prisonments began  in  earnest  and  were  continued, 
more  or  less  frequently,  for  many  years.  Even 
as  late  as  1748,  the  Episcopalians  of  Reading 


192    THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  RELIGIOUS 

were  fined  for  reading  the  Prayer-book  and  for 
working  on  public  fast-days.  Still  later,  in  1762, 
there  was  occasional  oppression,  as  in  the  case  of 
the  New  Milford  Episcopalians.  They  desired  to 
build  a  church,  but  had  to  wait  for  the  county 
court  to  approve  the  site  chosen.  The  court  was 
averse  to  the  building  of  the  church,  and  accord- 
ingly was  a  long  time  in  complying  with  this 
technicality.  Meanwhile,  the  Episcopalians  could 
not  build,  neither  would  they  attend  Congrega- 
tional worship,  and  the  magistrates,  refusing  to 
recognize  the  services  held  in  private  houses,  fined 
them  for  absence  from  public  worship.  This 
treatment  was  abandoned  as  soon  as  it  became 
known  that  the  rector  had  counseled  his  people 
to  submit,  as  he  intended  to  send  a  copy  of  the 
court's  proceedings  to  England  to  be  passed  upon 
as  to  their  legality.  It  was  such  petty,  yet  costly, 
persecution  as  this  that  became  frequent  after 
1709,  and  from  which  the  Episcopalians  were 
determined  to  escape. 

These  Church-of -England  men  were  increasing 
in  numbers  in  the  colony,  and,  at  the  passage  of 
the  Toleration  Act,  were  quite  hopeful  that  the 
Rev.  John  Talbot's  mission  to  England  to  secure 
a  bishop  for  America  would  prove  successful. 
Although  he  was  not  successful  in  obtaining  the 
episcopate,  his  mission  received  so  much  encour- 


LIBERTY  IN  CONNECTICUT  193 

agement  from  those  in  high  places  that,  upon 
Talbot's  return,  a  home  for  the  prospective  bishop 
was  purchased,  in  1712,  in  Burlington,  New- 
Jersey.  It  was  known  that  Queen  Anne  was 
much  interested  in  the  proposed  bishopric,  and 
letters  were  exchanged  between  the  leaders  of  the 
movement  in  England  and  the  prominent  Inde- 
pendent clergymen  in  the  colonies,  in  order  to 
sound  the  state  of  public  opinion.  A  bill  for  the 
American  expansion  of  the  Church  of  England, 
as  a  branch  to  be  severed  from  the  jurisdiction 
of  the  Bishop  of  London  and  to  be  planted  in  the 
colonies  under  a  bishop  with  full  ecclesiastical 
powers,  was  prepared  and  was  ready  for  presen- 
tation in  Parliament  when  the  Queen's  death, 
August  1, 1714,  caused  its  withdrawal,  and  felled 
the  hopes  of  Churchmen.  George  I  had  too  many 
temporal  affairs  to  occupy  his  mind  to  burden 
himself  with  the  intricate  rights,  powers,  and 
privileges  of  a  new  episcopate,  sought  by  a  few 
colonials  scattered  through  the  American  wilder- 
ness ;  —  too  many  vexatious  secular  affairs  in  the 
colonies,  and  too  heavy  war-clouds  darkening  his 
European  horizon.  The  Society  for  the  Propa- 
gation of  the  Gospel,  in  1715,  made  one  futile 
attempt  to  interest  the  king,  and  then  gave  up 
any  hope  of  the  immediate  appointment  of  an 
American  bishop. 


194    THE   DEVELOPMENT  OF  RELIGIOUS 

In  the  Connecticut  colony,  the  Episcopalians 
had  so  increased  that,  in  1718,  there  was  in 
Stratford  a  church  of  one  hundred  baptized  per- 
sons, thirty-six  communicants,  and  a  congregation 
that  frequently  numbered  between  two  and  three 
hundred  people.  They  were  ministered  to  by 
traveling  missionaries  of  the  Society  for  the 
Propagation  of  the  Gospel.  When  these  Strat- 
ford people  appealed  to  the  Society  for  a  settled 
minister,  they  complained  that  "  there  is  not  any 
government  in  America  but  has  our  settled 
Church  and  minister,  but  this  of  Connecticut." 82 
Still  all  the  Society  could  then  do  was  to  send 
a  missionary  priest,  and  to  keep  alive  in  Eng- 
land, among  the  powerful  Church  party  there, 
so  keen  an  interest  that  it  would  seize  upon  the 
first  opportunity  to  use  its  great  influence  and 
to  compel  the  English  government  to  force  the 
Connecticut  authorities  to  comply  with  the  de- 
mands of  the  colonial  Churchmen  for  the  un- 
restricted enjoyment  of  their  religion.  Such  an 
interest  was  kept  up  by  the  regular,  full  reports 
which  the  Society  required  of  all  its  missionaries. 
And  these  reports,  be  it  remembered,  were  ex- 
pected to  contain  news  of  any  kind,  and  of  every- 
thing that  happened  in  the  colony  of  Connecticut, 
or  elsewhere,  that  could  possibly  be  turned  to 
advantage  in  influencing  the  home  authorities,  in 


LIBERTY  IN  CONNECTICUT  195 

pushing  the  interests  of  the  English  Establish- 
ment in  America,  and  in  strengthening  its  mem- 
bership there.  Although,  after  the  death  of  Queen 
Anne,  the  king's  indifference  checked  the  move- 
ment for  the  American  episcopate,  its  friends  did 
not  abandon  it,  and  a  persistent  effort  for  its 
success  was  soon  begun.  One  of  its  prime  movers 
was  the  Rev.  George  Pigott,  missionary  to  Strat- 
ford, Connecticut,  in  1722. 

Under  Mr.  Pigott,  the  Church  of  England  in 
Connecticut  made  a  most  encouraging  and  im- 
portant gain,  when,  in  1722,  Timothy  Cutler, 
Rector  of  Yale  College,  and  six  of  his  associates 
proclaimed  their  dissatisfaction  with  Congrega- 
tionalism, or,  as  they  termed  it,  "the  Presby- 
terianism  "  of  the  Connecticut  established  church. 
They  asserted  that  "  some  of  us  doubt  the  valid- 
ity, and  the  rest  are  more  fully  persuaded  of 
the  invalidity  of  the  Presbyterian  ordination  in 
opposition  to  the  Episcopal." 

Three  of  these  men  remained  in  "  doubt,"  and 
continued  within  the  Congregational  church." 
Four  of  them,  Rector  Timothy  Cutler,  Tutor 
Daniel  Brown,  Rev.  James  Wetmore  of  North 
Haven,    and    Rev.    Samuel   Johnson    of   West 

°  The  Rev.  John  Hart  of  East  Guilford,  Samuel  Whittlesey 
of  Wallingford,  and  Jared  Ellis  of  Killingworth.  These  men 
were  always  friendly  to  the  Churchmen. 


19G    THE   DEVELOPMENT   OF   RELIGIOUS 

Haven,  went  to  England  to  receive  Episcopal 
ordination.0  The  story  of  their  conversion  is  to 
Churchmen  an  illustration  of  the  scriptural  com- 
mand, "  Cast  your  bread  upon  the  waters  and  it 
will  return  to  you  after  many  days."  The  Con- 
necticut authorities  had  chosen  the  Rev.  Timothy 
Cutler  because  of  his  eloquence,  and  had  sent 
him  to  Stratford  to  counteract  the  early  successes 
of  the  Church-of -England  missionary  priests,  who 
were  at  work  among  the  people  there.  Later,  in 
1719,  Cutler,  because  of  his  abilities,  was  chosen 
President,  or  Rector,  of  Yale,  as,  in  the  early 
days,  the  head  of  the  college  was  called.  The 
seeds  of  doubt  had  entered  his  mind  during  his 
Stratford  pastorate.  He  and  his  associates  found 
many  books  in  the  college  library  that,  instead  of 
lessening,  increased  their  doubts.  After  presid- 
ing for  three  years  over  the  greatest  institution 
of  learning  in  the  colony,  which  had  for  its  object 
the  preparation  of  men  for  service  in  civil  office 
and,  even  more  in  those  days,  for  service  in  reli- 
gion, Rector  Cutler,  together  with  his  associates, 
announced  their  change  of  faith.  The  colony 
was  taken  by  storm,  and  there  spread  through- 
out its  length  and  breadth,  and  throughout  New 

a  The  Rev.  Daniel  Brown  died  in  England.  In  the  next 
forty  years,  one  tenth  of  those  who  crossed  the  sea  for  ordina- 
tion porished  from  dangers  incident  to  the  trip. 


LIBERTY  IN  CONNECTICUT  197 

England  also,  a  great  fear  that  Episcopacy  had 
made  a  coup  d'etat  and  was  shortly  to  become  the 
established  church  of  her  colonies  as  well  as  of 
England  herself.  Naturally,  among  the  colonial 
Churchmen,  it  excited  the  largest  hope  "  of  a 
glorious  revolution  among  the  ecclesiastics  of  the 
country,  because  the  most  distinguished  gentle- 
men among  them  are  resolutely  bent  to  promote 
her  (the  Church's)  welfare  and  embrace  her  bap- 
tism and  discipline,  and  if  the  leaders  fall  in 
there  is  no  doubt  to  be  made  of  the  people."  83 

These  hopes  were  in  a  degree  confirmed  by  the 
conversion  of  one  or  two  more  ministers,  and  by 
the  Yale  men  that  the  classes  of  1723,  1724, 
1726,  1729,  and  1733  gave  to  Episcopacy.  By 
the  impetus  of  these  conversions,  within  a  gen- 
eration, "  the  Episcopal  Church  under  a  native 
born  minister  had  penetrated  every  town,  had 
effected  lodgment  in  every  Puritan  stronghold, 
and  had  drawn  into  her  membership  large  num- 
bers of  that  sober-minded,  self-contained,  tena- 
cious people  who  constitute  the  membership  of 
New  England  to-day."  84  After  the  conversions  of 
1722,  the  movement  for  the  apostolic  episcopate 
in  America  became  more  determined,  and  never 
wholly  ceased  until  the  consecration  of  Samuel 
Seabury  as  bishop  of  Connecticut  in  1784. 

A  decided  change  took  place  in  Connecticut's 


198    THE   DEVELOPMENT  OF  RELIGIOUS 

policy  upon  the  death  of  Governor  Saltonstall  in 
1724,  and  under  his  successor  in  office,  former 
Lieutenant-Governor  Joseph  Talcott.  The  new 
governor  was  a  Hartford  man,  more  liberal  in 
his  ecclesiastical  opinions  and  opposed  to  severe 
measures  against  dissenters.  Hardly  had  Gover- 
nor Talcott  taken  office  when  Edmund  Gibson, 
Bishop  of  London,  wrote  him,  urging  in  behalf 
of  the  Episcopalians  a  remittance  of  ecclesiastical 
taxes.  "If  I  ask  anything,"  wrote  the  Bishop, 
"  inconsistent  with  the  laws  of  the  country,  I  beg 
pardon ;  but  if  not,  I  hope  my  request  for  favors 
for  the  Church  of  England  will  not  appear  un- 
reasonable." The  Bishop  accompanied  his  letter 
with  a  paper,  a  copy  of  a  circular  letter  to  the 
different  colonial  governors,  in  which,  among 
other  matters  relating  to  his  clergy,  he  professed 
his  readiness  to  discipline  them  if  necessary  "  in 
order  to  contribute  to  the  peace  and  honor  of  the 
government."  This  proposal  was  due,  in  part,  to 
the  scandalous  reputation  in  New  England  which 
the  southern  settled  clergy  bore.  Because  of  this 
reputation,  the  Society  for  the  Propagation  of  the 
Gospel  had  from  the  first  made  a  special  point  of 
the  morals  of  their  missionary  priests.  Indeed, 
these  priests,  themselves,  had  warned  the  Society 
that,  if  it  expected  any  returns  from  its  missions  in 
New  England,  it  would  have  to  take  great  pains 


LIBERTY   IN  CONNECTICUT  199 

to  send  out  a  superior  class  of  men.  Governor 
Talcott  replied  to  Bishop  Gibson,  under  date  of 
December  1, 1725,ffl  "  that  there  is  but  one  Church 
of  England  minister  in  this  colony,6  and  the 
church  with  him  have  the  same  protection  as  the 
rest  of  our  Churches  and  are  under  no  constraint 
to  contribute  to  the  support  of  any  other  minis- 
ter." After  reflecting  upon  the  number  and 
character  of  the  few  persons  in  another  town  or 
two  "  who  claim  exemption  from  rates,"  Gover- 
nor Talcott  quotes  the  colony  law  for  the  support 
of  the  ministry  in  every  town,  and  adds  that, 
upon  the  death  of  an  incumbent,  the  townspeople 
"  are  quickly  supplied  by  persons  of  our  own 
communion,  educated  in  our  public  schools  of 
Learning;  which  through  divine  blessing  afforded 
us,*we  have  sufficiency  of  those  who  are  both 
learned  and  exemplary  in  their  lives."  This  was 
a  polite  way  of  informing  the  bishop  that  Con- 
necticut preferred  to  do  without  his  missionaries. 
It  was  one  thing  for  the  tolerant  governor  to 
grant  exemption  from  Congregational  taxes  in 
the  case  of  an  influential  church  like  that  of 

a  This  year  the  home  influence  of  the  Church  of  England 
had  been  brought  to  bear  with  sufficient  pressure  to  forbid  the 
calling  of  a  general  synod  of  the  New  England  churches  which 
had  been  desired,  and  towards  which  Massachusetts  had  taken 
the  initial  step.  See  A.  L.  Cross,  Anglican  Episcopate,  pp.  67-70. 

6  Stratford. 


200    THE   DEVELOPMENT  OF  RELIGIOUS 

Stratford,  and  quite  another  to  extend  the  same 
toleration  to  every  scattered  handful  of  people 
who  might  claim  to  be  members  of  the  Church 
of  England,  and  who  might  welcome  the  coming 
of  her  missionary  priests. 

The  Episcopalians,  however,  were  not  content 
to  rest  their  privileges  upon  their  numerical 
power  in  each  little  town,  or  upon  the  personal 
favor  of  the  magistrates.  They  therefore  con- 
tinued their  agitation  for  exemption  from  support 
of  Congregationalism  and  from  fines  for  neglect- 
ing its  public  worship.  Under  the  lead  of  the 
wardens  and  vestry  of  Fairfield,  they  obtained 
favor  with  the  General  Court  in  1727,°  when 
an  act  was  passed,  "  providing  how  taxes  levied 
upon  members  of  the  Church  of  England  for  the 
support  of  the  Gospel  should  be  disposed  of," 
and  exempting  said  members  from  paying  any 
taxes  "  for  the  building  of  meeting  houses  for 
the  present  established  Churches  of  this  govern- 
ment." The  law  further  declared  that  if  within 
the  parish  bounds  — 

there  be  a  Society  of  ye  Church  of  England,  where 
there  is  a  person  in  orders,  according  to  ye  Canons 
of  ye  Church  of  England,  settled  and  abiding  among 

a  This  same  year,  George  I  granted  to  Bishop  Gibson  a 
patent  confirming1  the  jurisdiction  which,  as  Bishop  of  London, 
he  claimed  over  the  Church  of  England  in  the  colonies.  George 
II  renewed  the  patent  in  1728-29. 


LIBERTY  IN  CONNECTICUT  201 

them  and  performing  divine  service  so  near  to  any 
person  that  hath  declared  himself  of  ye  Church  of 
England,  that  he  can  conveniently  and  doth  attend 
ye  public  worship  there,  then  the  collectors,  having 
first  indifferently  levied  ye  tax,  as  aforesaid,  shall 
deliver  ye  taxes  collected  of  such  persons  declaring 
themselves,  and  attending  as  aforesaid,  unto  ye  minis- 
ter of  ye  Church  of  England,  living  near  unto  such 
persons ;  which  minister  shall  have  power  to  receive 
and  recover  ye  same,  in  order  to  his  support  in  ye  place 
assigned  to  him. 

But  if  such  proportion  of  any  taxes  be  not  suffi- 
cient in  any  Society  of  ye  Church  of  England  to  sup- 
port ye  incumbent  there,  then  such  Society  may  levy 
and  collect  of  them  who  profess  and  attend  as  afore- 
said, greater  taxes,  at  their  own  discretion,  to  ye  sup- 
port of  their  ministers. 

And  the  parishoners  of  ye  Church  of  England, 
attending  as  aforesaid,  are  hereby  excused  from  pay- 
ing any  taxes  for  ye  building  meeting  houses  for  ye 
present  Established  Churches  of  this  government. 85 

After  the  passing  of  this  law,  the  magistrates 
contented  themselves  with  occasional  unfair 
treatment  of  the  weaker  churches.  They  some- 
times haggled  over  the  interpretation  of  the 
terms  "near"  and  "conveniently"  as  found  in 
the  law.  They  objected  to  the  appointment  of 
one  missionary  to  several  stations  or  towns. 
They  also  did  not  always  enforce  upon  the  Pres- 


202    THE   DEVELOPMENT  OF   RELIGIOUS 

byterian  collectors  strict  accuracy  in  making  out 
their  lists,  and  when  the  Episcopalians  sought 
redress  for  unreturned  taxes  or  unjust  fines, 
they  found  their  lawsuits  blocked  in  the  courts. 
The  magistrates,  also,  showed  almost  exclusive 
preference  for  Congregationalists  as  bondsmen 
for  strangers  settling  in  the  towns,  while  the 
courts  continued  to  frequently  refuse  or  to  delay 
the  approval  of  sites  chosen  for  the  erection 
of  Episcopal  churches. 

Finally,  there  was  a  certain  amount  of  political 
and  social  ostracism  directed  against  Church- 
men. A  notable  attempt  to  defraud  the  Epis- 
copalians of  a  due  share  of  the  school  money,  de- 
rived from  the  sale  of  public  lands  and  from  the 
emission  of  public  bills,  was  defeated  in  1738 
by  a  spirited  protest,  setting  forth  the  illegality 
of  the  proceeding,  the  probable  indignation  of 
the  King  at  such  treatment  of  his  good  subjects 
and  brethren  in  the  faith,  and  by  pointing  to  the 
fact,  as  recently  shown  by  a  test  case  in  Massa- 
chusetts, that  the  Connecticut  Establishment  it- 
self could  not  exist  without  the  special  consent 
of  the  King.86  The  petition  was  signed  by  six 
hundred  and  thirty-six  male  inhabitants  of  the 
colony.  They  asserted  in  their  protest  that  they 
had  a  share  in  equity  derived  from  the  charter ; 
that  they  bore  their  share  of  the  expenses  of  the 


LIBERTY  IN  CONNECTICUT  203 

government ;  and  that  the  teaching  of  the  Church 
of  England  made  just  as  good  citizens  as  did  that 
of  the  Presbyterian  Church.  The  public  lands, 
from  the  sale  of  which  the  school  money  was 
derived,  were  those  along  the  Housatonic  river. 
The  money  was  appropriated  according  to  a  law 
enacted  in  1732  which  distributed  it  among  the 
older  towns  as  a  reward  for  good  schools.  But, 
in  1738,  the  legislature  passed  a  bill  by  which 
a  majority  vote  of  the  town  or  parish  could  divert 
the  money  to  the  support  of  "  the  gospel  minis- 
try as  by  law  in  the  colony  established."  Natu- 
rally this  new  law  operated  against  all  dissenters, 
who,  equally  anxious  with  the  Congregationalists 
to  have  good  schools,  were  an  ignored  minority 
whenever  the  latter  chose  to  vote  the  money  to 
the  support  of  their  church.  As  a  result  of  this 
spirited  protest  of  the  Episcopalians,  the  enact- 
ment of  1738  was  repealed  two  years  later  "  be- 
cause of  misunderstanding."  Notwithstanding 
such  hardships  as  the  Episcopalians  suffered  in 
Connecticut,  their  own  writers  declare  that,  at 
this  period  of  colonial  history,  the  Churchmen  in 
Connecticut  had  less  to  complain  of  than  their 
co-religionists  in  New  York  and  in  the  southern 
colonies. 

While  the  Episcopalians  were  agitating  for  a 
larger  liberty  than  that  granted  by  the  Toleration 


204     THE   DEVELOPMENT  OF  RELIGIOUS 

Act,  the  other  dissenters,  Rogerines,  Quakers, 
and  Baptists,  were  not  idle. 

The  efforts  of  the  Rogerines  were  marked  more 
by  violence  than  by  success.  They  had  become 
less  fanatic,  and  persecution  had  died  away  during 
the  first  ten  years  following  the  passage  of  the 
Toleration  Act.  All  might  have  gone  smoothly 
had  they  not  suddenly  stirred  Governor  Salton- 
stall  to  renewed  dislike,  the  magistrates  to  fresh 
alarm,  and  the  people  to  great  contempt  and  in- 
dignation. This  they  accomplished  by  a  sort  of 
mortuary  tribute  to  their  leader,  John  Rogers, 
who  died  in  1721.  This  tribute  took  the  form 
of  renewed  zeal,  and  was  marked  by  a  revival  of 
some  of  their  most  obnoxious  practices.  The 
Rogerines  determined  to  break  up  the  observance 
of  the  Puritan  Sabbath.  Immediately,  an  "  Act 
for  the  Better  Detecting  and  more  effectual  Pun- 
ishment of  Prophaneness  and  Immorality  "  was 
passed.  It  was  especially  directed  against  the 
Rogerines.  Its  most  striking  characteristic  was 
that  it  changed  the  policy  of  the  government  from 
the  time-honored  Anglo-Saxon  theory  that  every 
man  is  innocent  until  proved  guilty,  to  the  doc- 
trine that  a  man,  accused,  must  be  guilty  until 
proved  innocent.  In  so  oft-recurring  a  charge 
as  that  of  being  absent  from  public  worship,  it 
became  lawful  to  exact  fines  unless  the  accused 


LIBERTY  IN  CONNECTICUT  205 

could  prove  before  a  magistrate  that  he  had  been 
present.  But  this  first  act  did  not  dampen  suffi- 
ciently the  renewed  zeal  of  the  Rogerines,  and 
for  two  years  there  was  a  continuance  of  sharp 
legislation  to  reduce  their  disorderliness.  They 
were  fined  five  shillings  for  leaving  their  houses 
on  Sunday  unless  to  attend  the  orthodox  worship, 
and  twenty  shillings  for  gathering  in  meeting- 
houses without  the  consent  of  the  ministers.  They 
were  given  a  month,  or  less,  in  the  house  of  cor- 
rection, and  at  their  own  expense  for  board,  for 
each  offense  of  unruly  or  noisy  behavior  on  Sun- 
day near  any  meeting-house  ;  for  unlawful  travel 
or  behavior  on  that  day ;  and  for  refusal  to  pay 
fines  assessed  for  breaking  any  of  the  colony's 
ecclesiastical  laws.  These  laws87  were  enforced 
one  Sunday  in  1725  against  a  company  of  Rog- 
erines who  were  going  quietly  on  their  way 
through  Norwich  to  attend  services  in  Lebanon. 
The  outburst  of  religious  fervor  spent  itself  in 
two  or  three  years.  Governor  Talcott  did  not 
believe  in  strong  repressive  measures,  and  it  was 
soon  conceded  that  the  ignoring  of  their  eccen- 
tricities, if  kept  within  reasonable  bounds,  was 
the  most  efficient  way  to  discourage  the  Rogerines. 
Summarizing  the  influence  of  this  sect,  we  find 
that  they  contributed  nothing  definite  to  the  slow 
development  of  religious  toleration  in  Connecticut. 


206    THE   DEVELOPMENT   OF  RELIGIOUS 

If  anything,  their  fanaticism  hindered  its  growth, 
and  they  gained  little  for  themselves  and  nothing 
for  the  cause.  As  the  years  went  on  and  their 
little  sect  were  permitted  to  indulge  their  pecul- 
iar notions,  and  the  props  of  the  State  were 
not  weakened  nor  the  purity  of  religion  vitally 
assailed,  the  Rogerines  contributed  their  mite  to- 
wards convincing  mankind,  and  the  Connecticut 
people  in  particular,  that  brethren  of  different 
creeds  and  religious  practices  might  live  together 
in  security  and  harmony  without  danger  to  the 
civil  peace. 

During  the  seventeen  years  that  Governor 
Talcott  held  office,  1724-41,  the  life  of  the 
colony  was  marked  by  its  notable  expansion 
through  the  settlement  of  new  towns,0  and  by 
the  dexterity  with  which  its  foreign  affairs  —  its 
relations  to  England  and  its  boundary  disputes 
with  its  neighbors  —  were  conducted.  The  last 
dragged  on  for  years,  calling  for  several  expensive 
commissions  and  causing  much  confusion.  The 
Massachusetts  line  was  determined  in  1713  ;  that 
of  Rhode  Island  in  1728 ;  and  that  of  New  York 
in  1735.  Connecticut,  in  all  these  cases,  had  to 
be  wary  lest  the  attempts  to  settle  these  disputed 
claims  should  weary,  antagonize,  or  anger  the 

«  Between  1700  and  1741  more  than  thirty  new  towns  were 
organized,  making  twice  as  many  as  in  1700. 


LIBERTY  IN  CONNECTICUT  207 

King.88  Many  of  the  old  charges  were  renewed, 
and  Connecticut  was  no  longer  regarded  as  a 
"  dutiful "  colony,  but  rather  as  one  altogether 
too  independent,  from  whom  it  might  be  wise  to 
wrest  her  charter,  subjecting  her  to  a  royal  gov- 
ernor. As  early  as  1715,  her  colonial  agent  had 
been  advised  to  procure  a  peaceable  surrender  of 
the  charter.  To  this  proposal,  Governor  Salton- 
stall  had  returned  a  courteous  and  dignified  re- 
fusal. But  the  danger  was  always  cropping  up. 
Governor  Talcott's  English  official  correspond- 
ence is  full  of  details  concerning  Connecticut's 
increasing  anxiety  concerning  the  attitude  and 
the  decisions  of  the  home  government ;  over  the 
dangers  consequent  to  her  institutions  or  to  her 
charter.  It  was  repeatedly  suggested  that  that 
charter  should  be  surrendered,  modified  in  favor 
of  the  King's  supervision,  or  annulled.  In  the 
Governor's  letters,  one  follows  the  intricacies  of 
the  boundary  disputes,  of  the  complicated  Mohe- 
gan  case,  and  sounds  the  dangers  to  the  colony 
from  the  disposition  and  decisions  of  the  Crown.89 
One  case  in  particular  demands  a  passing 
consideration  because  of  its  far-reaching  effects, 
and  because  it  paralleled  in  time  the  legislation 
in  the  colony  which  broadened  the  Toleration 
Act.  This  was  the  famous  case  of  John  Win- 
throp  against  his  brother-in-law,  Thomas  Lech- 


208    THE   DEVELOPMENT  OF  RELIGIOUS 

mere,  to  recover  real  estate  left  by  the  elder 
Winthrop  to  his  son  and  daughter.  The  suit 
brought  up  the  whole  question  of  land  entail  in 
Connecticut,  and,  with  it,  the  possibility  of  an 
economic  and  social  revolution  in  the  colony 
which  would  have  been  the  death-blow  to  its 
prosperity.  Winthrop,  by  appealing  the  case  to 
England,  brought  Connecticut  into  still  greater 
disfavor,  and  risked  the  loss  of  the  charter,  to- 
gether with  many  special  privileges  in  religion 
and  politics  which  the  colony  enjoyed  through  a 
liberal  interpretation  of  that  instrument.  In  the 
course  of  the  suit,  the  constitutional  relations  of 
Crown  and  colony  had  to  be  threshed  out. 

John  Winthrop's  father  died  in  1717,  when, 
according  to  Connecticut,  but  not  English,  law 
of  primogeniture,  Winthrop  received  as  eldest 
son  a  double  portion  of  his  father's  real  estate, 
and  his  sister,  Thomas  Lechmere's  wife,  the  rest. 
Winthrop's  brother-in-law  was  not  a  man  wholly 
to  be  trusted  to  deal  justly  with  his  wife's  pro- 
perty ;  but  this,  in  itself,  was  a  very  small  factor 
in  the  suit.  Winthrop  was  at  variance  with  the 
Connecticut  authorities,  and  was  dissatisfied  with 
his  share  both  of  his  father's  property  and  of 
his  uncle's,  whose  heir  he  was.  No  matter  how 
much  his  own  personal  interests  might  endanger 
the  colony,  Winthrop  resolved  to  have  all  the 


LIBERTY  IN  CONNECTICUT  209 

property  due  him  as  eldest  son  and  heir  under 
English  law.  He  appealed  his  case  to  England, 
taking  it  directly  from  the  local  probate  court, 
and  ignoring  the  Court  of  Assistants,  where  he 
might  have  obtained  some  redress.  Moreover,  to 
influence  the  decision  in  his  favor  he  included 
in  his  list  of  grievances  many  of  the  old  offenses 
charged  against  Connecticut.  He  did  this,  even 
while  acknowledging  that  the  colonial  Intestate 
Act,  framed  in  1699,90  was  but  the  embodiment 
of  custom  that  had  existed  from  the  beginning 
of  the  colony.  While  this  case  dragged  on,  it 
was  again  intimated  to  Connecticut  that  the 
surrender  of  her  charter,  or  at  least  the  sub- 
stitution of  an  explanatory  charter,  might  be  an 
acceptable  price  for  the  royal  confirmation  of 
her  Intestate  Law.  Finally,  Winthrop  went  to 
England,  and  was  given  a  private  hearing,  at 
which  no  representative  of  the  colony  was  pre- 
sent. As  a  result  of  this  hearing,  an  order  in 
Council  was  issued  February  15,  1728,  annul- 
ling the  Connecticut  Intestate  Act  as  contrary  to 
the  laws  of  England  and  as  exceeding  charter 
rights.  Moreover,  the  colonial  authorities  were 
ordered  to  measure  off  the  lands,  claimed  by 
Winthrop,  and  to  restore  them  to  him. 

Of  course,  it  would  take  some  time  to  obey  the 
order.    Meanwhile,  if  this  restitution  were  made, 


210    THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  RELIGIOUS 

if  the  decision  were  submitted  to,  it  would  in- 
validate so  many  land  titles  as  to  threaten  the 
very  existence  of  Connecticut's  economic  struc- 
ture. The  colony  sought  the  best  legal  talent 
obtainable.  For  seventeen  years  Connecticut  con- 
tinued this  expensive  lawsuit,  urging  always  her 
willingness  to  comply  in  the  case  of  Winthrop,  if 
only  the  decision  be  made  a  special  one  and  not 
a  precedent,  —  if  only  an  order  in  Council,  or  an 
act  of  Parliament,  would  reinstate  the  Connecti- 
cut Intestate  Law.  Her  agents  in  England  were 
instructed  to  demonstrate  how  well  the  colonial 
division  of  property  had  worked,  and  that  under 
the  English  division,  where  all  real  estate  went 
to  the  eldest  son,  if  it  were  practiced  in  a  new 
and  heavily  wooded  country,  whose  chief  wealth 
was  agriculture,  the  rental  of  lands  would  yield 
income  barely  sufficient  to  pay  taxes  and  repair 
fences,  and  there  coidd  be  no  dowry  for  the 
daughters.  A  still  further  result  would  be,  that 
the  younger  sons  would  be  driven  into  manufac- 
turing or  forced  to  emigrate.  In  each  case  the 
Crown  would  suffer,  either  by  the  loss  of  a  colo- 
nial market  for  its  manufactured  products,  or 
by  an  impoverished  colony,  incapable  of  mak- 
ing satisfactory  returns  to  the  royal  treasury.91 
Moreover,  in  the  case  of  emigration,  when  Con- 
necticut, lacking  men  to  plow   her  Holds,  could 


LIBERTY  IN  CONNECTICUT  211 

no  longer  produce  the  foodstuffs  the  surplus  of 
which  she  sold  to  the  "  trading  parts  of  Massa- 
chusetts and  Rhode  Island  "  to  supply  the  fish- 
eries, the  Crown  would  feel  still  another  baneful 
effect  from  its  attempt  to  enforce  the  English 
law  of  entail.  Again,  there  was  another  aspect 
from  which  to  view  the  annulment  of  the  Con- 
necticut Intestate  Law.  Its  annulment  would 
render  worthless  many  past  and  present  land- 
titles.  Creditors  who  had  accepted  land  for  debt 
would  suffer.  Titles  to  lands,  held  by  towns,  as 
well  as  individuals,  would  become  subject  to  liti- 
gation ;  the  whole  colony  would  be  plunged  into 
lawsuits,  and  its  economic  framework  would  be  rent 
in  pieces.  The  Intestate  Law  was  in  accordance 
with  custom  throughout  New  England.  When  in 
1737  a  similar  statute  in  Massachusetts  was  sus- 
tained by  the  King  in  Council  in  the  appeal  of 
Phillips  vs.  Savage,  Connecticut,  notwithstanding 
the  renewed  and  repeated  suggestions  to  give  up 
her  charter,  took  courage  to  continue  the  contest. 
During  these  years  the  question  of  the  con- 
stitutional relation  of  colony  and  Crown  was  fre- 
quently raised,  and  Connecticut  was  called  upon 
to  show  that  her  laws  were  not  contrary  to 
the  laws  of  England.  She  had  to  prove  that 
they  were  not  contrary  to  the  common  law  of 
England  ;  nor  to  the  statute  law,  existing  at  the 


212    THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  RELIGIOUS 

founding  of  the  colony ;   nor  to  those   acts  of 
Parliament  that  had  been  expressly  extended  to 
the  colony.    This  was  the  most  commonly  held 
of  the  three  interpretations   of   "  not   contrary 
to  the  laws  of  England."    The  most  restricted 
interpretation  was  that  all  colonial  laws  higher 
than  by-laws,  and  "  which  even  within  that  term 
touched   upon  matters  already  provided  for  by 
English  common  or  statute  law,  were  illegal "  or 
"  contrary."     Under   this    interpretation,    "  the 
colonies  were  as  towns  upon  the  royal  demesne." 
Connecticut  herself  held  to  a  third  construction, 
maintaining  that,  as   her  own  charter  nowhere 
stipulated  that  her  administration  should  accord 
with  the  civil,  common,  or  statute  law  of  Eng- 
land, she,  at  least,  among  the  colonies  was  free 
to  frame  her  own  laws   according  to   her  own 
needs    and    desires.     Holding    to    this   opinion, 
which  had  never  been  corrected  by  the  Crown, 
Connecticut  maintained  that  "  contrary  to  the 
laws  of  England  "  was  limited  in  its  intent  to 
contrary  to   those   laws   expressly  designed    by 
Parliament  to  extend  to  the  plantations.    More- 
over, Connecticut  insisted  that  the  colonies  were 
not  to  be  compared  to  English  towns,  because, 
unlike   the   towns,   they  had  no   representation 
in  Parliament.     The  Connecticut  Intestate  Act 
was  opposed  to  the  English  law  according  to  the 


LIBERTY   IN   CONNECTICUT  213 

first  two  interpretations,  but  not  according  to 
the  third.  Further,  the  Connecticut  authorities 
felt  that  if  the  conditions  which  had  given'  rise 
to  the  law  were  fully  realized  in  England,  the 
apparent  insubordination  of  the  colony  would 
disappear  in  the  light  of  the  real  equity  of  the 
colonial  statute.  In  Governor  Talcott's  letter, 
dated  November  3,  1729,  under  "  The  Case  of 
Connecticut  Stated,"  there  is  a  summary  of 
the  reasons  why  the  colony  hesitated  to  appeal 
directly  to  Parliament  for  a  confirmation  of  the 
Intestate  Act.  She  was  afraid  of  exciting  still 
greater  disfavor  by  seeming  to  ask  privileges  in 
addition  to  those  already  conferred  upon  her 
in  her  very  liberal  charter.  She  was  afraid  of 
courting  inquiry  in  regard  to  her  ecclesiastical 
laws,  her  laws  relating  to  the  collegiate  school, 
and  also  sundry  civil  laws.  The  colony  feared 
that  the  result  of  such  an  investigation  would  be 
that  she  would  thereafter  be  rated,  not  as  a  gov- 
ernment or  province,  but  as  a  corporation  with 
a  charter  permitting  only  the  enactment  of  by- 
laws. Moreover,  she  dreaded  to  be  ranked  with 
"  rebellious  Massachusetts,"  and  thus  further 
expose  herself  to  a  probable  loss  of  her  charter. 
After  contesting  the  decision  against  her  for 
many  years,  at  last  in  1746  she  virtually  won 
her  case  through  a  decision  given  in  England  in 


214     THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  RELIGIOUS 

the  suit  of  Clarke  vs.  Tousey,92  —  a  suit  which 
had  been  appealed  from  the  colony,  and  which 
presented  much  the  same  claim  as  Winthrop's. 
The  decision  in  favor  of  Clarke  was  equivalent 
to  a  recognition  of  Connecticut's  Intestacy  Law. 
It  has  been  pointed  out  that,  important  as  the 
Winthrop  controversy  was  from  the  economic 
standpoint,  it  was  equally  important  as  fore- 
shadowing the  legislation  of  the  English  govern- 
ment some  thirty  years  later,  and  as  defining 
the  relation  of  colony  and  Crown.  Moreover,  in 
1765,  as  in  1730,  "  economic  causes  and  condi- 
tions," writes  Professor  Andrews  in  his  discus- 
sion of  the  Connecticut  Intestacy  Law,  "  drove 
the  colonists  into  opposition  to  England  quite 
as  much  as  did  theories  of  political  independence, 
or  of  so-called  self-evident  rights  of  man." 

It  was  during  the  continuance  of  this  trouble- 
some Winthrop  suit,  while  boundary  lines  were 
still  unsettled,  while  as  yet  the  Mohegan  titles 
remained  in  dispute,  while  the  most  grievous 
charge  of  encouraging  home  manufactures,  and 
many  other  complaints  were  brought  against  Con- 
necticut, —  it  was  in  the  midst  of  her  perplexities 
and  conflicting  interests  that  the  dissenters  within 
her  borders  sought  greater  religious  liberty.  They 
sought  it,  not  only  through  their  own  local 
efforts,  but  through  the  strength  of  their  friends 


LIBERTY   IN  CONNECTICUT  215 

in  England,  who  brought  all  their  influence  to 
bear  upon  the  home  government.  With  such 
help  Episcopalians  had  won  exemption  in  1727, 
and  within  two  years  Quakers  and  Baptists  were 
accorded  similar  freedom. 

Connecticut  Quakers,  though  few  in  numbers, 
were  very  determined  to  have  their  rights.  From 
1706,  the  Newport  Yearly  Meeting  had  encour- 
aged the  collecting  and  recording  of  all  cases  of 
"  sufferance.''  In  1714,  at  the  close  of  Queen 
Anne's  War  (1702-13),  the  Newport  Yearly 
Meeting  reported  to  that  of  London  that  "  there 
is  much  suffering  on  account  of  the  Indians  at 
the  Eastward,  yet  not  one  (of  ours)  had  fallen 
during  the  last  year,  Travelling  preachers  hav- 
ing frequently  visited  those  parts  without  the 
least  harm.  .  .  .  Friends  in  several  places 
have  suffered  deeply  on  account  of  not  paying 
presbyterian  priests,  and  for  the  Refusing  to 
bear  Armes,  an  Account  of  which  we  Doe  here- 
with Send."  In  1715,  the  English  law  had 
granted  them  the  perpetual  privilege  of  substi- 
tuting affirmation  for  oath.  The  Quakers  were 
determined  to  have  the  same  freedom  in  the  colo- 
nies as  in  England.  Accordingly,  they  watched 
with  interest  the  test  case  between  the  Quaker 
constables  of  Duxbury  and  Tiverton,  —  both, 
then,  under  the  jurisdiction  of  Massachusetts,  — 


216    THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  RELIGIOUS 

and  the  authorities  of  that  colony.  Fines  and 
persecutions  were  so  much  alike  in  Connecticut 
and  Massachusetts  that  a  dissenter's  victory  in 
one  colony  would  go  far  towards  obtaining  ex- 
emption in  the  other.  The  Quaker  constables 
had  refused  to  collect  the  church  rate,  and  for 
this  refusal  were  thrown  into  prison.  Thereupon 
a  petition,  with  many  citations  from  the  colony 
law  books,  was  sent  to  England,  begging  that 
the  prisoners  be  released  and  excused  from  their 
fines,  and  that  such  unjust  laws  be  annulled. 
The  Privy  Council  ordered  the  prisoners  released 
and  their  fine  remitted.  This  decision  was  ren- 
dered in  1724,  and,  with  the  success  of  the 
Episcopalians  three  years  later,  still  further 
encouraged  both  Quakers  and  Baptists  to  seek 
relief  from  ecclesiastical  taxes  and  fines.  Two 
years  later,  in  May,  1729,  the  Quakers  appealed 
to  the  Connecticut  Court  for  such  exemption,  and 
were  released  from  contributing  to  the  support 
of  the  established  ministry  and  from  paying  any 
tax  levied  for  building  its  meeting-houses,  pro- 
vided they  could  show  a  certificate  from  some 
society  of  their  own  (either  within  the  colony  or 
without  it,  if  so  near  its  borders  that  they  could 
regularly  attend  its  services)  vouching  for  their 
support  of  its  worship  and  their  presence  at  its 
regular  meetings.93 


LIBERTY   IN   CONNECTICUT  217 

Turning  to  the  Baptists,  the  oppressive  mea- 
sures employed  to  make  them  violate  their  con- 
science ceased  on  the  inauguration  of  Governor 
Talcott  in  1724.  Thereafter,  those  among  them 
who  conformed  to  the  requirements  of  the  Toler- 
ation Act  received  some  measure  of  freedom. 
To  the  neighborly  interest  of  the  Association  of 
Baptist  Churches  of  North  Kingston,  Rhode 
Island,  and  to  the  influence  of  leading  Baptists 
in  that  colony,  including  among  them  its  gov- 
ernor (who  subjoined  a  personal  note  to  the 
Association's  appeal  to  the  Connecticut  Gen- 
eral Court),  was  due  the  favor  of  the  Court  ex- 
tended in  October,  1729,94  to  the  Baptists, 
whereby  they  were  granted  exemption  upon  the 
same  terms  as  those  offered  the  Quakers. 

Thus  in  barely  twenty  years  from  the  passage 
of  the  Toleration  Act,  Episcopalian,  Quaker, 
and  Baptist  had  driven  the  thin  edge  of  a  de- 
stroying wedge  into  the  foundations  of  the  Con- 
necticut Establishment.  Each  dissenting  body 
was  pitifully  small  in  absolute  strength,  and  they 
had  no  inclination  toward  united  action.  Quak- 
ers and  Baptists  were  required  to  show  certif- 
icates, a  requirement  soon  to  be  considered  in 
itself  humiliating.  The  new  laws  we're  neg- 
ative, in  that  they  empowered  the  assessor  to 
omit  to  tax  those  entitled  to  exemption,  but  they 


218     THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  RELIGIOUS 

provided  no  penalty  to  be  enforced  against  asses- 
sors who  failed  to  make  such  omission.  Indeed, 
in  individual  cases,  the  laws  might  seem  to  be 
scarcely  more  than  an  admission  of  the  right  to 
exemption.  However,  it  was  an  admission  that 
a  century's  progress  had  brought  the  knowledge 
that  brethren  of  different  religious  opinions  could 
dwell  together  in  peace.  It  was  an  exemption 
by  which  the  government  admitted,  as  well  as 
claimed,  the  right  of  choice  in  religious  worship. 
It  was  a  far  cry  to  the  acknowledgment  that  a 
man  was  free  to  think  his  own  thoughts  and  fol- 
low his  own  convictions,  provided  they  did  not 
interfere  with  the  rights  of  other  men.  The  new 
laws  were  a  concession  by  a  strongly  intrenched 
church  to  the  natural  rights  of  weaker  ones, 
whose  title  to  permanency  it  greatly  doubted. 
They  were  a  concession  by  a  government  whose 
best  members  felt  it  to  be  the  State's  moral  and 
religious  obligation  to  support  one  form  of  reli- 
gion and  to  protect  it  at  the  cost,  if  neces- 
sary, of  all  other  forms,  —  a  concession,  by 
such  a  government,  to  a  very  small  minority 
of  its  subjects,  holding  the  same  appreciation  of 
their  religious  duty  as  that  which  had  nerved 
the  founders  of  the  colony.  It  was  a  concession 
by  the  community  to  a  very  few  among  their 
number,  who  were  divergent  in  church  polity  and 


LIBERTY  IN  CONNECTICUT  219 

practice  but  who  were  united  in  a  Protestant 
creed  and  in  the  conviction,  held  then  by  every 
respectable  citizen,  that  every  man  should  be 
made  to  attend  and  support  some  accepted  and 
orgamzed  form  of  Christian  worship 


CHAPTER  IX 

"THE    GREAT    AWAKENING." 

Wake,  awake,  for  night  is  flying- : 

The  watchmen  on  the  heights  are  crying, 

Awake,  Jerusalem,  arise !  —  Advent  Hymn. 

The  opposition  of  Episcopalian,  Quaker,  and 
Baptist  to  the  Connecticut  Establishment,  if 
measured  by  ultimate  results,  was  important 
and  far-reaching.  But  it  was  dwarfed  almost  to 
insignificance,  so  feeble  was  it,  so  confined  its 
area,  when  compared  to  that  opposition  which, 
thirty-five  years  after  the  Saybrook  Synod  and 
a  dozen  years  after  the  exemption  of  the  dissent- 
ers, sprang  up  within  the  bosom  of  the  Congre- 
gational church  itself,  as  a  protest  against  civil 
enactments  concerning  religion.  This  protest 
was  a  direct  result  of  the  moral  and  spiritual 
renascence  that  occurred  in  New  England  and 
that  became  known  as  the  "  Great  Awakening." 
History  in  all  times  and  countries  shows  a 
periodicity  of  religious  activity  and  depression. 
It  would  sometimes  seem  as  if  these  periodic 
outbreaks  of  religious  aspirations  were  but  the 


RELIGIOUS  LIBERTY  IN  CONNECTICUT    221 

last  device  of  self-seeking,  —  were  but  attempts 
to  find  consolation  for  life's  hardships  and  to  se- 
cure happiness  hereafter.  Fortunately  such  selfish 
motives  are  transmuted  in  the  search  for  larger 
ethical  and  spiritual  conceptions.  An  enlarged 
insight  into  the  possibilities  of  living  tends  to 
slough  off  selfishness  and  to  make  more  habitual 
the  occasional,  and  often  involuntary,  response  to 
Christlike  deeds  and  ideals.  But  so  ingrained  is 
our  earthly  nature  that,  in  communities  as  in 
nations,  periods  alternate  with  periods,  and  the 
pendulum  swings  from  laxity  to  morality,  from 
apathy  to  piety,  gradually  shortening  its  arc.  So 
in  Connecticut,  numbers  of  her  towns  from  time 
to  time  had  been  roused  to  greater  interest  in 
religion  before  the  spiritual  cyclone  of  the  great 
revival,  or  "  Great  Awakening,"  swept  through 
the  land  in  1740  and  the  two  following  years. 
The  earlier  and  local  revivals  were  generally 
due  to  some  special  calamity,  as  sickness,  failure 
of  harvest,  ill-fortune  in  war,  or  some  unusual 
occurrence  in  nature,  such  as  an  earthquake 
or  comet,  with  the  familiar  interpretation  that 
Jehovah  was  angry  with  the  sins  of  his  people. 
Sometimes,  however,  the  zeal  of  a  devoted  min- 
ister would  kindle  counter  sparks  among  his 
people.  Such  a  minister  was  the  Rev.  Solomon 
Stoddard,  who  mentions  five  notable  revivals,  or 


222    THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  RELIGIOUS 

"  harvests,"  a  as  he  calls  them,  during  his  sixty 
years  of  ministry  in  the  Northampton  church. 
A  few  other  New  England  towns  had  similar  re- 
vivals, but  they  were  brief  and  rare. 

Notwithstanding  these  occasional  local  "  stir- 
rings of  the  heart,"  at  the  beginning  of  the  second 
quarter  of  the  eighteenth  century  a  cold,  formal 
piety  was  frequently  the  covering  of  indifferent 
living  and  of  a  smug,  complacent  Christianity, 
wherein  the  letter  killed  and  the  spirit  did  not 
give  life.  This  was  true  all  over  New  England, 
and  elsewhere.  Nor  was  this  deadness  confined 
to  the  colonies  alone,  for  the  Wesleys  were  soon 
to  stir  the  sluggish  current  of  English  religious 
life.  In  New  England,  the  older  clergymen,  like 
the  Mathers  of  Massachusetts,  conservative  men, 
whose  memories  or  traditions  were  of  the  golden 
age  of  Puritanism,  had  long  bemoaned  the  loss 
of  religious  interest,  the  inability  of  reforming 
synods  to  create  permanent  improvement,  and  the 
helplessness  of  ecclesiastical  councils  or  of  civil 
enactments  to  rouse  the  people  from  the  real 
"  decay  of  piety  in  the  land,"  and  from  their  in- 
difference to  the  immorality  that  was  increasing 
among  them.  This  indifference  grew  in  Connecti- 
cut after  the  Saybrook  Platform  had  laid  a  firm 
hold  upon  the  churches.    Its  discipline  created  a 

°  At  Northampton  in  1C80,  1684,  1697,  1713,  and  1719. 


LIBERTY  IN  CONNECTICUT  223 

tendency,  on  the  one  hand,  to  hard  and  narrow 
ecclesiasticism,  and,  on  the  other,  to  careless  living 
on  the  part  of  those  who  were  satisfied  with  a 
mere  formal  acceptance  of  the  principles  of  re- 
ligion and  with  the  bare  acknowledgment  of  the 
right  of  the  churches  to  their  members'  obedi- 
ence.0 

It  is  a  great  mistake  [writes  Jonathan  Edwards] 
if  any  one  imagines  that  all  these  external  perform- 
ances (owning  the  covenant,  accepting  the  sacraments, 
observing  the  Sabbath  and  attending  the  ministry), 
are  of  the  nature  of  a  profession  of  anything  that  be- 
longs to  saving  grace,  as  they  are  commonly  used  and 
understood.  .  .  .  People  are  taught  that  they  may 
use  them  all,  and  not  so  much  as  make  any  pretence 
to  the  least  degree  of  sanctifying  grace  ;  and  this  is 
the  established  custom.  So  they  are  used  and  so  they 
are  understood.  ...  It  is  not  unusual  .  .  .  for  per- 
sons, at  the  same  time  they  come  into  the  church  and 
pretend  to  own  the  covenant,  freely  to  declare  to  their 
neighbors,  that  they  have  no  imagination  that  they 
have  any  true  faith  in  Christ  or  love  to  Him.95 

The  General  Court,  relieved  from  the  over- 
sight of  the  churches,  had  bent  itself  to  preserv- 
ing the  colony's  charter  rights  from  its  enemies 

a  As  early  even  as  1711,  the  Hartford  North  Association 
suggested  some  reformation  in  the  Half- Way  Covenant  prac- 
tice because  it  noted  that  persons,  lax  in  life,  were  being  ad- 
mitted under  its  terms  of  church  membership. 


224    THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  RELIGIOUS 

abroad,  and  to  the  material  interests  involved  in 
a  conservative,  wise,  and  energetic  home  devel- 
opment. The  people's  thoughts  were  with  the 
Court  more  than  with  the  clergy,  who  had  fallen 
from  a  healthy  enthusiasm  in  their  profession 
into  a  sort  of  spiritual  deadness  and  dull  accept- 
ance of  circumstances.96  As  a  sort  of  corollary 
to  Stoddard's  teaching  that  the  Lord's  Supper 
was  itself  a  means  toward  attaining  salvation,  it 
followed  that  clergymen,  though  they  felt  no 
special  call  to  their  ministry,  were  nevertheless 
believed  to  be  worthy  of  their  office.  The  older 
theology  of  New  England  had  tended  to  morbid 
introspection.  Stoddard,  in  avoiding  that  dan- 
ger, had  thrown  the  doors  of  the  Church  too 
widely  open,  and  the  result  was  a  gradual  under- 
mining of  its  spiritual  power.  The  continued 
acceptance  of  the  Half -Way  Covenant,  "  laxative 
rather  than  astringent  in  its  nature,"  helped  to 
produce  a  low  estimate  of  religion.  The  tender- 
ness that  the  Cambridge  Platform  had  encour- 
aged towards  "  the  weakest  measure  of  faith " 
had  broadened  into  such  laxity  that,  in  many 
cases,  ministers  were  willing  to  receive  accounts 
of  conversions  which  had  been  written  to  order 
for  the  applicants  for  church  membership.  The 
Church,  moreover,  had  come  directly  under  the 
control  of  politics,  a  condition  never  conducive 


LIBERTY    IN  CONNECTICUT  225 

to  its  purity.  The  law  of  1717,  "  for  the  better 
ordering  and  regulating  parishes  or  societies," 
had  made  the  minister  the  choice  of  the  major- 
ity of  the  townsmen  who  were  voters.  This  re- 
versed the  early  condition  of  the  town,  merged 
by  membership  into  the  church,  to  a  church 
merged  into  the  town.97  There  was  still  another 
factor,  often  the  last  and  least  willingly  recog- 
nized in  times  of  religious  excitement,  namely, 
the  commercial  depression  throughout  the  coun- 
try, resulting  from  years  of  a  fluctuating  cur- 
rency. This  depression  contributed  largely  to 
the  revival  movement,  and  helped  to  spread  the 
enthusiasm  of  the  Great  Awakening.  Connecti- 
cut's currency  had  been  freer  from  inflation  than 
that  of  other  New  England  colonies.  But  her 
paper  money  experiments  in  the  years  from  1714 
to  1749  grew  more  and  more  demoralizing.  Up 
to  1740,  Connecticut  had  issued  £156,000  in 
paper  currency.  At  the  time  of  the  Great  Awak- 
ening she  had  still  outstanding  £39,000  for 
which  the  colony  was  responsible.  Of  this,  all 
but  £6000  had  been  covered  by  special  taxation. 
There  still  remained,  however,  about  .£33,000 
which  had  been  lent  to  the  various  counties. 
Taxation  was  heavy,  wages  low  and  prices  high, 
and  there  was  not  a  man  in  the  colony  who  did 
not  feel  the  effect  of  •  the  rapidly  depreciating 


226    THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  RELIGIOUS 

currency.98  This  general  depression  fell  upon  a 
generation  of  New  En  glanders  whose  minds  no 
longer  dwelt  preeminently  upon  religious  mat- 
ters, but  who  were,  on  the  contrary,  preeminently 
commercial  in  their  interests. 

Such  were  the  general  conditions  throughout 
New  England  and  such  the  low  state  of  reli- 
gion in  Connecticut,  when,  in  the  Northampton 
church,  Solomon  Stoddard's  grandson,  the  great 
Jonathan  Edwards,  in  December,  1734,  preached 
the  sermons  which  created  the  initial  wave  of  a 
great  religious  movement.  This  religious  revival 
spread  slowly  through  generally  lax  New  Eng- 
land, and  through  the  no  less  lax  Jerseys,  and 
through  the  backwoods  settlements  of  Pennsyl- 
vania, until  it  finally  swept  the  southern  colonies. 
At  the  time,  1738,  the  Kev.  George  Whitefield 
was  preaching  in  Carolina,  and  acceptably  so  to 
his  superior,  Alexander  Garden,  the  Episcopal 
commissary  to  that  colony.  Touched  by  the 
enthusiasm  of  the  onflowing  religious  movement, 
WhitefiekTs  zeal  and  consequent  radicalism,  as 
he  swayed  toward  the  Congregational  teaching 
and  practices,  soon  put  him  in  disfavor  with  his 
fellow  Churchmen.  Such  disfavor  only  raised 
the  priest  still  higher  in  the  opinion  of  the  dis- 
senters, and  they  flocked  to  hear  his  eloquent 
sermons.    Whitefield  soon  decided  to  return  to 


LIBERTY  IN  CONNECTICUT  227 

England.  There  he  encountered  the  great  revival 
movement  which  was  being  conducted,  princi- 
pally by  the  Wesleys,  and  he  at  once  threw 
himself  into  the  work.  Meanwhile,  he  had  con- 
ceived a  plan  for  a  home  for  orphans  in  Georgia, 
and,  a  little  later,  he  determined  upon  a  visit  to 
New  England  in  its  behalf.  Upon  his  arrival  in 
Boston  in  1740,  the  Rev.  George  Whitefield  was 
welcomed  with  open  arms.  Great  honor  was  paid 
him.  Crowds  flocked  to  hear  him,  and  he  was 
sped  with  money  and  good-will  throughout  New 
England  as  he  journeyed,  preaching  the  gospel, 
and  seeking  alms  for  the  southern  orphanage. 
His  advent  coincided  in  time  with  the  reviving 
interest  in  religion,  especially  in  Connecticut. 
Interest  over  the  revival  of  1735  had  centred 
on  that  colony  the  eyes  of  the  whole  non-liturgi- 
cal English-speaking  world.  Whitefield's  preach- 
ing was  to  this  awakening  religious  enthusiasm 
as  match  to  tinder. 

The  religious  passion,  kindled  in  1735  by  Ed- 
wards, and  hardly  less  by  his  devoted  and  spirit- 
ually-minded wife,  had  in  Connecticut  swept  over 
Windsor,  East  Windsor,  Coventry,  Lebanon, 
Durham,  Stratford,  Ripton,  New  Haven,  Guil- 
ford, Mansfield,  Tolland,  Hebron,  Bolton,  Pres- 
ton, Groton,  and  Woodbury."  The  period  of 
this  first  "  harvest "  was  short.     The  revival  had 


228    THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  RELIGIOUS 

swept  onward,  and  indifference  seemed  once 
more  to  settle  down  upon  the  land.  But  the 
news  of  the  revival  in  Connecticut  had  reached 
England  through  letters  of  Dr.  Benjamin  Cole- 
man of  Boston.  His  account  of  it  had  created  so 
much  interest  that  Jonathan  Edwards  was  per- 
suaded to  write  for  English  readers  his  "  Narra- 
tive of  the  Surprising  Work  of  God."  Editions 
of  this  book  appeared  in  1737-38  in  both  Eng- 
land and  America,  and  all  Anglo-Saxon  non- 
prelatical  circles  pored  over  the  account  of  the 
recent  revival  in  Connecticut.  Religious  enthu- 
siasm revived,  and  was  roused  to  a  high  pitch 
by  Whitefield's  itinerant  preaching,  as  well  as 
by  that  of  Jonathan  Edwards,  and  by  the  visit 
to  New  England  of  the  Rev.  Gilbert  Tennant, 
one  of  two  brothers  who  had  created  widespread 
interest  by  their  revival  work  in  New  Jersey. 
A  religious  furor,  almost  mania,  spread  through 
New  England,  and  the  "  Great  Awakening " 
came  in  earnest. 

The  Rev.  George  "VYhitefield  reached  New- 
port, Rhode  Island,  in  September,  1740.  Crowds 
flocked  to  hear  him  during  his  brief  visit  there. 
In  October,  he  proceeded  to  Boston,  where  he 
preached  to  enthusiastic  audiences,  including  all 
the  hio-h  dignitaries  of  Church  and  State.  Dur- 
ing  his  ten  days'  sojourn  in  the  city,  no  praise 


LIBERTY  IN  CONNECTICUT  229 

was  too  fulsome,  no  honor  too  great.  Whitefield 
next  went  to  Northampton,  drawn  by  his  desire 
to  visit  Edwards.  After  a  week  of  conference 
with  the  great  divine,  Whitefield  passed  on 
through  Connecticut,  preaching  as  he  went,  and 
devoted  the  rest  of  the  year  to  itinerating  through 
the  other  colonies.  Already  his  popularity  had 
been  too  much  for  him,  and  he  frequently  took 
it  upon  himself  to  upbraid,  in  no  measured 
terms,  the  settled  ministry  for  lack  of  earnest- 
ness in  their  calling  and  lack  of  Christian  char- 
acter. This  visit  of  Whitefield  was  followed  by 
one  from  the  Rev.  Gilbert  Tennant,  who  arrived 
in  Boston  in  December,  and  spent  his  time,  until 
the  following  March,  preaching  in  Massachu- 
setts and  Connecticut.  Tennant  was  also  out- 
spoken in  his  denunciations,  and  both  men,  while 
sometimes  justified  in  their  criticisms,  were  fre- 
quently hasty  and  censorious  in  their  judgments 
of  those  who  differed  from  them. 

Ministers  throughout  New  England  were 
quick  to  support  or  to  oppose  the  revival  move- 
ment, and  a  goodly  number  of  them,  as  itiner- 
ants, took  up  the  evangelical  work.  Dr.  Colman 
and  Dr.  Sewall  of  Boston,  Jonathan  Edwards 
and  Dr.  Bellamy  of  Connecticut,  were  among 
the  most  influential  divines  to  support  the  Great 
Awakening,  —  to  call  the  revival  by  the  name 


230     THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  RELIGIOUS 

by  which  it  was  to  go  down  in  history.  Unfor- 
tunately, among  the  aroused  people,  there  were 
many  who  pressed  their  zeal  beyond  the  rev- 
erent bounds  set  by  these  leaders.  The  religious 
enthusiasm  rushed  into  wild  ecstasies  during  the 
preaching  of  the  almost  fanatic  Rev.  James 
Davenport  of  Southold,  and  of  those  itinerant 
preachers  who,  ignorant  and  carried  away  by 
emotions  beyond  their  control,  attempted  to  fol- 
low his  example. 

During  this  religious  fever  there  were  times 
when  all  business  was  suspended.  Whole  com- 
munities gave  themselves  up  to  conversion  and 
to  passing  through  the  three  or  more  distinct 
stages  of  religious  experience  which  Jonathan 
Edwards,  as  well  as  the  more  ignorant  itinerants, 
accepted  as  signs  of  the  Lord's  compassion. 
Briefly  stated,  these  stages  were,  first,  a  heart- 
rending misery  over  one's  sinfulness  ;  a  state 
of  complete  submissiveness,  expressing  itself  in 
those  days  of  intense  belief  both  in  heaven  and 
in  a  most  realistic  hell,  as  complete  willing- 
ness "  to  be  saved  or  damned,"  a  whichever  the 
Lord  in  his  great  wisdom  saw  would  fit  best 
into  His  eternal  scheme.    Finally,  there  was  the 

a  This  "to  be  saved  or  damned"  was,  later,  a  marked 
characteristic  of  Hopkinsianism,  or  the  teaching-  of  the  Rev. 
/Suinuul  Hopkins,  1723-1813. 


LIBERTY   IN  CONNECTICUT  231 

blessed  state  of  ecstatic  happiness,  when  it  was 
borne  in  upon  one  that  he  or  she  was,  indeed, 
one  of  the  few  of  "  God's  elect."  10°  The  revival 
meetings  were  marked  by  shouting,  sobbing, 
sometimes  by  fainting,  or  by  bodily  contortions. 
All  these,  in  the  fever  of  excitement,  were  be- 
lieved by  many  persons  to  be  special  marks  of 
supernatural  power,  and,  if  they  followed  the 
words  of  some  ignorant  and  rash  exhorter,  they 
were  even  more  likely  to  be  considered  tokens 
of  divine  favor,  —  illustrations  of  God's  choice  of 
the  simple  and  lowly  to  confound  the  wisdom 
of  the  world.  The  strong  emotional  character  of 
the  religious  meetings  of  our  southern  negroes, 
as  well  as  their  frequent  sentimental  rather  than 
practical  or  moral  expression  of  religion,  has 
been  credited  in  large  measure  to  the  hold  over 
them  which  this  great  religious  revival  of  the 
eighteenth  century  gained,  when  its  enthusiasm 
rolled  over  the  southern  colonies.  Be  that  as  it 
may,  any  adequate  appreciation  of  the  frequent 
daily  occurrences  in  New  England  during  the 
Great  Awakening  would  be  best  realized  by  one 
of  this  twentieth  century  were  it  possible  to  form 
a  composite  picture,  having  the  unbridled  emo- 
tionalism of  our  negro  camp-meetings  super- 
imposed upon  the  solid  respectability  and  grave 
reasonableness  of  the  men  of  that  earlier  day. 


232    RELIGIOUS    LIBERTY   IN   CONNECTICUT 

As  the  lines  of  one  and  the  other  constituent 
of  this  composite  picture  blend,  the  momentary 
feeling  of  impatience  and  disgust  vanishes  in  a 
wave  of  compassion  as  the  irresistible  earnest- 
ness and  the  pitiless  logic  of  those  days  press 
for  recognition,  and  we  realize  the  awful  suffer- 
ings of  many  an  ignorant  or  sensitive  soul.  It 
was  not  until  the  religious  revival  had  passed  its 
height  that  the  people  began  to  realize  the  folly 
and  dangers  of  the  hysteria  that  had  accom- 
panied it.  It  was  not  until  long  afterward  that 
many  of  its  characteristics,  which  had  been  in- 
terpreted as  supernatural  signs,  were  known  and 
understood,  and  correctly  diagnosticated  as  out- 
ward evidence  of  physical  and  nervous  exhaus- 
tion. 

Such,  outwardly,  were  the  marked  features  of 
the  Great  Awakening.  Yet  its  incentives  to  noble 
living  were  great  and  lasting.  Its  immediate  re- 
sults were  a  revolt  against  conventional  religion, 
a  division  into  ecclesiastical  parties,  and  a  great 
schism  within  the  Establishment,  which,  before 
the  breach  was  healed,  had  improved  the  quality 
of  religion  in  every  meeting-house  and  chapel 
in  the  land  and  broadened  the  conception  of  re- 
ligious liberty  throughout  the  colony. 


CHAPTER  X 

THE    GKEAT    SCHISM 
If  a  house  be  divided  against  itself.  —  Mark  iii,  25. 

Fkom  such  a  revival  as  that  of  the  Great  Awaken- 
ing, parties  must  of  necessity  arise.  Upon  un- 
disciplined fanaticism,  the  Established  church 
must  frown.  But  when  it  undertook  to  discipline 
large  numbers  of  church  members  or  whole 
churches,  recognizedly  within  its  embracing  fold 
and  within  their  lawful  privileges,  a  great  schism 
resulted,  and  the  schismatics  were  sufficiently 
tenacious  of  their  rights  to  come  out  victorious 
in  their  long  contest  for  toleration. 

The  proviso  of  the  Saybrook  Platform  had 
arranged  for  the  continued  existence  of  churches, 
Congregational  rather  than  Presbyterian  in  their 
interpretation  of  that  platform ;  yet,  as  late  as 
1730,  when  but  few  remained,  the  question  had 
arisen  whether  members  of  such  churches,  "  since 
they  were  allowed  and  under  the  protection  of 
the  laws,"  ought  to  qualify  according  to  the  Tol- 
eration Act.  The  Court  decided  in  the  negative,101 
arguing  that,  although  they  differed  from  the 


234    THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  RELIGIOUS 

majority  of  the  churches  in  preferring  the  Cam- 
bridge Platform  of  church  discipline,  they  had 
been  permitted  under  the  colony  law  of  May  13, 
1669,  establishing  the  Congregational  church, 
and  had  been  protected  by  the  proviso  of  1708. 
The  Court  in  its  decision  of  1730  seems  also  to 
have  included  a  very  few  churches  that  had  re- 
volted from  the  religious  formalism  creeping  in 
under  the  Saybrook  system,  and  that  had  re- 
turned to  the  earlier  type  of  Congregationalism. 
After  the  Great  Awakening,  churches  "thus 
allowed  and  under  the  protection  of  our  laws  " 
were  found  to  increase  so  rapidly  that  the  move- 
ment away  from  the  Saybrook  Platform  threat- 
ened to  undermine  the  ecclesiastical  system,  and 
to  endanger  the  Establishment.  Seeing  this,  the 
Court,  or  General  Assembly,0  began  to  enforce 
the  old  colony  law  that  with  it  alone  belonged 
the  power  to  approve  the  incorporating  of 
churches.  And  shortly  after  it  began  to  harass 
these  separating  churches,  and  to  enact  laws  to 
prevent  the  farther  spread  of  reinvigorated  Con- 
gregationalism unless  of  the  Presbyterian  type. 
Soon  after  1741,  the  churches  that  drew  away 
from  the  Saybrook  system  of  government  became 
known  as  Separate  churches,  and  their  members 

«  This  term  came  with  the  royal  charter  of  1G62,  but  only 
gradually  displaced  the  familiar  "  General  Court." 


LIBERTY   IN  CONNECTICUT  235 

as  Separatists.  When  these  people  found  that 
the  Assembly  would  no  longer  approve  their 
organizing  as  churches,  they  attempted,  as  sober 
dissenters  from  the  worship  established  in  the 
colony,  to  take  the  benefit  of  the  Toleration  Act. 
The  Assembly  next  "resolved  that  those  com- 
monly called  Presbyterians  or  Congregationalists 
should  not  take  the  benefit  of  that  Act."  102 

Here  was  a  difficulty  indeed.  There  was  no 
place  for  the  Separatist,  yet  there  was  need  of 
him,  and  he  felt  sure  there  was.  Furthermore, 
there  were  others  who  felt  the  need  to  the  com- 
munity of  his  strong  religious  earnestness,  though 
they  might  deplore  his  extravagances.  His  strong 
points  were  his  assertion  of  the  need  of  regen- 
eration, his  reassertion  of  the  old  doctrines  of 
justification  by  faith  and  of  a  personal  sense 
of  conversion,  including,  as  a  duty  inseparable 
from  church  membership,  the  living  of  a  highly 
moral  life.  The  weakness  of  the  Separatist  lay  in 
his  assertion,  first,  that  every  man  had  an  equal 
right  to  exercise  any  gifts  of  preaching  or  prayer 
of  which  he  believed  himself  possessed  ;  secondly, 
of  the  value  of  visions  and  trances  as  proofs  of 
spirituality ;  and  finally,  of  every  one's  freedom 
to  withdraw  from  the  ministry  of  any  pastor  who 
did  not  come  up  to  his  standard  of  ability  or 
helpfulness.    It  followed  that  the  Separatists  in- 


236    THE   DEVELOPMENT  OF  RELIGIOUS 

sisted  upon  the  right  to  set  up  their  own  churches 
and  to  appoint  their  own  ministers,  although  the 
latter  might  have  only  the  doubtful  qualifica- 
tion of  feeling  possessed  with  the  gift  of  preach- 
ing. The  Separatists  organized  between  thirty 
and  forty  churches.  Some  of  them  endured  but 
a  short  time,  suffering  disintegration  through 
poverty.  Others  fell  to  pieces  because  of  the 
unrestrained  liberty  of  their  members  in  their 
exhortations,  in  their  personal  interpretation  of 
the  Scriptures,  and  in  their  exercise  of  the  right 
of  private  judgment,  with  the  consequent  har- 
vest of  confusion,  censoriousness,  and  discord 
that  such  practices  created.  In  years  later, 
many  of  the  Separate  churches,  tired  of  the 
struggle  for  recognition  and  weighed  down  by 
their  double  taxation  for  the  support  of  religion, 
buried  themselves  under  the  Baptist  name.  In- 
deed they  "  agreed  upon  all  points  of  doctrine, 
worship,  and  discipline,  save  the  mode  and  sub- 
ject of  baptism."  A  few  Separatist  churches,  a 
dozen  or  more,  continued  the  struggle  for  exist- 
ence until  victory  and  toleration  rewarded  them. 
After  the  teachings  of  Jonathan  Edwards  had 
purified  the  churches  and  had  driven  out  the 
Half- Way  Covenant,  against  which  the  Separa- 
tists uttered  their  loudest  protests,  many  of  these 
reformers  returned  to  the  Established  church. 


LIBERTY  IN  CONNECTICUT  237 

In  the  practice  of  their  principles,  the  Sepa- 
ratists, both  as  churches  and  as  individuals,  were 
often  headstrong,  officious,  intermeddling,  and 
censorious.  They  frequently  stirred  up  ill-feeling 
and  often  just  indignation.  The  rash  and  heed- 
less among  them  accused  the  conservative  and 
regular  clergy  of  Arminianism,  when  the  latter, 
influenced  by  the  Great  Awakening,  revived  the 
doctrines  of  original  sin,  regeneration,  and  justi- 
fication by  faith,  but  were  careful  to  add  to  these 
Calvinistic  dogmas  admonitions  to  such  practi- 
cal Christianity  as  was  taught  by  Arminian 
preachers.  The  Separatists  feared  lest  the  doc- 
trine of  works  would  cause  men  to  stray  too  far 
from  the  doctrine  of  justification  by  faith  alone, 
and  they  were  often  very  intemperate  in  their 
denunciation  of  such  "  false  teachers."  It  was  a 
day  of  freer  speech  than  now,  and  at  least  two 
of  the  great  leaders  in  the  revival  had  set  a 
very  bad  example  of  calling  names.  Mr.  White- 
field  considered  Mr.  Tennant  a  "  mighty  chari- 
table man,"  yet  here  are  a  few  of  the  latter's 
descriptive  epithets,  collected  from  one  of  his 
sermons  and  published  by  the  Synod  of  Phila- 
delphia. Dr.  Chauncey  of  Boston  quotes  them  in 
an  adverse  criticism  of  the  revival  movement. 
Mr.  Tennant  speaks  of  the  ministers  thus  :  — 
hirelings,  caterpillars,  letter-learned  Pharisees,  Hypo- 


238    THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  RELIGIOUS 

crites,  Varlets,  Seed  of  the  Serpent,  foolish  Builders 
whom  the  Devil  drives  into  the  ministry,  dead  dogs 
that  cannot  bark,  blind  men,  dead  men,  men  pos- 
sessed of  the  devil,  rebels  and  enemies  of  God.103 

Naturally,  party  lines  were  soon  drawn  in 
New  England.  There  were  the  Old  Calvinists 
or  Old  Lights  on  the  one  side,  and  the  Separa- 
tists and  New  Lights  on  the  other.  The  New 
Lights  were  those  within  the  churches  who 
were  moved  by  the  revival  and  who  desired  to 
return  to  a  more  vital  Christianity.  In  many  re- 
spects they  sympathized  with  the  Separatists, 
although  disapproving  their  extravagances.  In 
many  churches,  hounded  by  the  opposition  of 
the  conservatives,  the  New  Lights  drew  off  and 
formed  churches  of  their  own.  Thus  while  the 
Separatists  may  be  compared  to  the  early  Eng- 
lish Separatists,  the  New  Lights  would  corre- 
spond more  to  the  Puritan  party  that  desired 
reform  within  the  Establishment.  In  the  eight- 
eenth century  movement,  in  Connecticut,  the 
Old  Lights  held  the  political  as  well  as  the  eccle- 
siastical control  until,  in  the  process  of  time, 
the  New  Lights  gained  an  influential  vote  in  the 
Assembly.  Always,  there  was  a  good,  sound 
stratum  of  Calvinism  in  both  the  Old  and  the 
New  Light  parties,  and  also  among  the  Separa- 
tists, and  the  latter  were  generally  included  in 


LIBERTY  IN   CONNECTICUT  239 

the  New  Light  party,  especially  if  spoken  of 
from  the  point  of  view  of  political  affiliations. 
The  idiosyncrasies  of  the  Separatists  softened 
down  and  fell  away  in  time.  The  Calvinism  of 
Old  and  New  Lights  became  a  rallying  ground 
whereon  each,  in  after  years,  gathered  about  the 
standard  of  a  reinvigorated  church  life ;  and 
then  the  terms  Old  Light  and  New,  with  their 
suggestions  of  party  meaning,  whether  religious 
or  political,  passed  away.  The  term  Separatist 
was  retained  for  a  while  longer,  merely  to  distin- 
guish the  churches  that  preferred  to  be  known 
as  strict  Congregationalist  rather  than  as  Pres- 
byterianized  Congregationalist,  or,  for  short, 
Presbyterian. 

From  the  time  of  the  Great  Awakening,  there 
were  nearly  forty  years  of  party  contest  over 
religious  privileges,  many  of  which  had  been 
previously  accorded  but  which  were  speedily  de- 
nied to  the  Separatists  by  a  party  dominant  in 
the  churches  and  paramount  in  the  legislature ; 
by  a  party  which  was  determined  to  bring  the 
whole  machinery  of  Church  and  State  to  crush 
the  rising  opposition  to  its  control.  Accordingly, 
it  was  nearly  forty  years  before  the  Separatists 
received  the  same  measure  of  toleration  as  that 
accorded  to  Episcopalian,  Quaker,  and  Baptist^/ 
It  was  ten  years  before  the  New  Lights  in  the 


240    THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  RELIGIOUS 

Assembly  could,  as  a  preliminary  step  to  such 
toleration,  force  the  omission  from  the  revised 
statutes  of  all  persecuting  laws  passed  by  the 
Old  Light  party. 

The  keynote  to  the  long  struggle  was  sounded 
at  a  meeting  of  the  General  Consociation  at 
Guilford,  November  24,  1741.  This  was  the 
first  and  only  General  Consociation  ever  called. 
It  was  convened  at  the  expense  of  the  colony,  to 
consider  her  religious  condition  and  the  dangers 
threatening  her  from  the  excitement  of  the  Great 
Awakening,  from  unrestrained  converts,  from 
rash  exhorters,  and  from  itinerant  preachers, 
who  took  possession  of  the  ministers'  pulpits 
with  little  deference  to  their  proper  occupants. 
The  General  Consociation  decided  — 

that  for  a  minister  to  enter  another  minister's  parish, 
and  preach  or  administer  the  seals  of  the  Covenant, 
without  the  consent  of,  or  in  opposition  to  the  set- 
tled minister  of  the  parish,  is  disorderly,  notwith- 
standing if  a  considerable  number  of  the  people  in 
the  parish  are  desirous  to  hear  another  minister 
preach,  provided  the  same  be  orthodox,  and  sound  in 
the  faith  and  not  notoriously  faulty  in  censuring  other 
persons,  or  guilty  of  any  scandal,  we  think  it  ordina- 
rily advisable  for  the  minister  of  the  parish  to  gratify 
them  by  giving  his  consent  upon  their  suitable  appli- 
cation to  him  for  it,  unless  neighboring  ministers 
advise  him  to  the  contrary. 104 


LIBERTY  IN  CONNECTICUT  241 

This  was  not  necessarily  an  intolerant  attitude, 
but  it  was  hostile  rather  than  friendly  to  the  re- 
vival. It  left  neighboring  ministers,  that  is,  the 
Associations,  if  one  among  their  number  seemed 
to  be  too  free  in  lending  his  pulpit  to  itinerant 
preachers,  to  curb  his  friendliness.  Intolerance 
might  come  through  this  limitation,  for  the  local 
Association  might  be  prejudiced.  If  its  advice 
were  disregarded  and  disorders  arose,  the  Con- 
sociation of  the  county  could  step  in  to  settle 
difficulties  and  to  condemn  progressive  men  as 
well  as  fanatics.  In  its  phrasing,  this  ecclesias- 
tical legislation  left  room  for  the  ministrations 
of  reputable  itinerants,  for  among  many,  some 
of  whom  were  ignorant  and  self-called  to  their 
vocation,  there  were  others  whose  abilities  were 
widely  recognized.  Foremost  among  such  men 
in  Connecticut  were  Jonathan  Edwards  himself, 
Dr.  Joseph  Bellamy  of  Bethlem,  trainer  of  many 
students  in  theology,  Rev.  Eleazer  Whelock  of 
Lebanon,  Benjamin  Pomroy  of  Hebron,  and 
Jonathan  Parsons  of  Lyme.  Among  itinerants 
coming  from  other  colonies,  the  most  noted,  after 
Whitefield  and  Tennant,  was  Dr.  Samuel  Finley 
of  New  Jersey,  later  president  of  Princeton. 
Naturally  men  like  these,  who  felt  strongly  the 
need  of  a  revival  and  believed  in  supporting  the 
"  Great  Awakening,"  despite  its  excitement  and 


242    THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  RELIGIOUS 

errors,  did  not  countenance  the  rash  proceedings 
of  many  of  the  ignorant  preachers,  who  ran 
about  the  colony  seeking  audiences  for  them- 
selves. 

The  measures  of  the  General  Consociation  were 
mild  in  comparison  with  the  laws  passed  by  the 
legislature  in  the  following  May.  Governor  Tal- 
cott,  tolerant  toward  all  religious  dissenters,  had 
recently  died,  and  the  conservative  Jonathan  Law 
of  Milford  was  in  the  chair  of  the  chief  magis- 
trate. Governor  Law  had  grown  up  among  the 
traditions  of  that  narrow  ecclesiasticism  which 
had  always  marked  the  territory  of  the  old  New 
Haven  Colony.  Moreover,  the  measures  of  the 
Consociation  had  been  futile.  One  of  the  chief 
offenders  against  them  was  the  Rev.  James 
Davenport  of  Southold,  Long  Island,  who  not 
only  went  preaching  through  the  colony,  stirring 
up  by  his  fanaticism,  his  visions,  and  his  ecstasies, 
the  common  people,  and  finding  fault  with  the 
regular  clergy  as  "  unconverted  men,"  but  who 
pushed  his  religious  enthusiasm  to  great  extremes 
by  everywhere  urging  upon  excitable  young  men 
the  duty  to  become  preachers  like  himself.  He 
had  introduced  a  kind  of  intoning  at  public 
meetings.  This  tended  to  create  nervous  irri- 
tability and  hysterical  outbursts  of  religious 
emotionalism,  and  these,  Davenport  taught  his 


LIBERTY  IN  CONNECTICUT  243 

disciples,  were  the  signs  of  God's  approval  of 
them  and  their  devotion  to  Him.  The  govern- 
ment, watching  these  tumultuous  meetings,  con- 
cluded that  it  was  time  to  show  its  ancient 
authority  and  to  save  the  people  from  "  divisions 
and  contentions,"  the  ecclesiastical  constitution 
from  destruction,  and  the  ministry  from  "  un- 
qualified persons  entering  therein."  Accordingly, 
in  May,  1742,  the  Assembly  passed  a  series  of 
laws,105  so  severe  that  even  ordained  ministers 
were  forbidden  to  preach  outside  their  own  par- 
ishes without  an  express  invitation  and  under 
the  penalty  of  forfeiting  all  benefits  and  all  sup- 
port derived  from  any  laws  for  the  encouragement 
of  religion  ever  made  in  the  colony.  The  new 
enactments  also  forbade  any  Association  to  license 
a  candidate  to  preach  outside  its  own  bounds 
or  to  settle  any  disputes  beyond  its  own  terri- 
tory.106 These  laws  also  permitted  any  parish 
minister  to  lodge  with  the  society  clerk  a  certifi- 
cate charging  that  a  man  had  entered  his  parish 
and  had  preached  there  without  first  obtaining 
permission.  Furthermore,  there  was  no  provision 
for  confirming  the  truth  or  proving  the  falsity  of 
such  a  statement.  In  connection  with  the  certif- 
icate clause,  it  was  also  enacted  that  no  assist- 
ant, or  justice  of  the  peace,  should  sign  a  warrant 
for  collecting  a  minister's  rates  until  he  was  sure 


244    THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  RELIGIOUS 

that  nowhere  in  the  colony  was  there  such  a  cer- 
tificate lodged  against  the  minister  making  appli- 
cation for  this  mode  of  collecting  his  ministerial 
dues.107  Finally,  the  laws  provided  that  a  bond 
of  XI 00  should  be  demanded  of  a  stranger,  or 
visiting  minister,  who  had  preached  without  invi- 
tation, and  that  he  should  be  treated  as  a  vagrant, 
and  sent  by  warrant  "from  constable  to  con- 
stable, out  of  the  bounds  of  this  Colony."  108 

These  laws  restrained  both  ordained  Ministers 
and  licensed  candidates  from  preaching  in  other 
Men's  Parishes  without  their  and  the  Church's  con- 
sent and  wholly  prohibited  the  Exhortations  of  Illit- 
erate Laymen. 

These  laws  were  a  high-handed  infringement  of 
the  rights  of  conscience,  and  in  a  few  years  fell  and 
buried  with  them  the  party  that  had  enacted  them. 
These  were  the  laws  which  he  (Davenport)  exhorted 
his  hearers  to  set  at  defiance ;  and  seldom,  it  must  be 
acknowledged,  has  a  more  plausible  occasion  been 
found  in  New  England  to  preach  disregard  for  the 
law. 

The  laws  were  framed  to  repress  itinerants  and 
exhorters  through  loss  of  their  civil  rights.  By 
them,  a  man's  good  name  was  dishonored  and  he 
was  deprived  of  all  his  temporal  emoluments.  By 
many,  in  their  own  day,  the  laws  were  regarded 
as  contrary  to  scriptural  commands,  and  to  the 


LIBERTY  IN   CONNECTICUT  245 

opinion  and  practice  of  all  reformers  and  of  all 
Puritans.  These  laws,  with  others  that  followed, 
were  not  warranted  by  the  ecclesiastical  constitu- 
tion of  the  colony,  and  could  find  no  parallel 
either  in  England  or  in  her  other  colonies.  Trum- 
bull calls  them  — 

a  concerted  plan  of  the  Old  Lights  or  Arminians  both 
among  the  clergy  and  civilians,  to  suppress  as  far  as 
possible,  all  zealous  Calvinistic  preachers,  to  confine 
them  entirely  to  their  own  pulpits  ;  and  at  the  same 
time  to  put  all  the  public  odium  and  reproach  upon 
them  as  wicked,  disorderly  men,  unfit  to  enjoy  the 
common  rights  of  citizens. 109 

Yet  for  these  laws  the  Association  of  New 
Haven  sent  a  vote  of  thanks  to  the  Assembly 
when  it  convened  in  their  city  in  the  following 
fall. 

Jonathan  Edwards  opposed  both  the  spirit  of 
the  General  Consociation  and  also  the  legislation 
of  the  Assembly.  He  expressed  his  attitude 
toward  the  Great  Awakening  both  at  the  time 
and  later.    In  1742  he  wrote  :  — 

If  ministers  preached  never  so  good  a  doctrine, 
and  are  never  so  laborious  in  their  work,  yet  if  at 
such  a  day  as  this  they  show  their  people  that  they 
are  not  well  affected  to  this  work  [of  revival],  they 
will  be  very  likely  to  do  their  people  a  great  deal 
more  hurt  than  good. 


246    THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  RELIGIOUS 

Six  years  later  Edwards  wrote  a  preface  to  his 
"  An  Humble  Inquiry  into  the  Qualifications  for 
Full  Communion  in  the  Visible  Church  of  God," 
a  treatise  severely  condemning  the  Half- Way 
Covenant,  and  urging  the  revival  of  the  early  per- 
sonal account  of  conversion.  In  this  preface  he 
excuses  his  hesitation  in  publishing  the  work, 
on  the  ground  that  he  feared  the  Separatists 
would  seize  upon  his  arguments  to  encourage 
them  and  strengthen  them  in  many  of  their  rejDre- 
hensible  practices.  These,  Edwards  reminds  his 
reader,  he  had  severely  condemned  in  his  earlier 
publications,  notably  in  his  "  Treatise  on  Reli- 
gious Affections,"  1746,  and  in  his  "  Observa- 
tions and  Reflections  on  Mr.  Brainerd's  Life." 
In  his  preface  Edwards  repeats  his  disapproval 
of  the  Separatist  "  notion  of  a  pure  church  by 
means  of  a  spirit  of  discerning  ;  their  censorious 
outcries  against  the  standing  ministers  and 
churches  in  general,  their  lay  ordinations,  their 
lay-preaching  and  public  exhortings  and  admin- 
istering sacraments ;  and  their  self-complacent, 
presumptuous  spirit."  Edwards  believed  that 
enthusiasts,  though  unlettered,  might  exhort  in 
private,  and  even  in  public  religious  gatherings 
might  be  encouraged  to  relate  in  a  proper,  ear- 
nest, and  modest  manner  their  religious  experi- 
ences, and  might  also  entreat  others  to  become 


LIBERTY   IN  CONNECTICUT  247 

converted.  He  maintained  that  much  of  the 
criticism  of  an  inert  ministry  was  well  founded, 
that  much  of  the  enthusiastic  work  of  laymen 
and  of  the  itinerants  deserved  to  be  recognized 
by  the  regular  clergy,  and  that  they  ought  to 
bestir  themselves  in  furthering  such  enthusiasm 
among  their  own  people.  Edwards  urged  also 
his  belief  in  the  value  of  good  works,  not  as  mer- 
iting the  reward  of  future  salvation,  but  as  mani- 
festing a  heart  stirred  by  a  proper  appreciation 
of  God's  attributes.  Jonathan  Edwards  held 
firmly  to  the  foundation  principles  of  the  conser- 
vative school,  while  he  sympathized  with  and  sup- 
ported the  best  elements  in  the  revival  movement. 
This  attitude  of  Edwards  eventually  cost  him 
his  pastorate,  for  he  judged  it  best  to  resign 
from  the  Northampton  church,  in  1750,  because 
of  the  unpopularity  arising  from  his  repeated 
attacks  upon  the  Half- Way  Covenant  and  the 
Stoddardean  view  of  the  Lord's  supper.  Never- 
theless, it  was  the  influence  of  Jonathan  Ed- 
wards and  of  his  following  which  gradually 
brought  about  a  union  of  the  religious  parties, 
after  the  Separatists  had  given  up  their  eccen- 
tricities and  the  leaven  of  Edwards'  teachings 
had  brought  a  new  and  invigorated  life  into  the 
Connecticut  churches.  This  preacher,  teacher, 
and  evangelist  was  remarkable  for  his  powerful 


248    THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  RELIGIOUS 

logic,  his  deep  and  tender  feeling,  his  sincere 
and  vivid  faith.  These  characteristics  urged  on 
his  resistless  imagination,  when  picturing  to 
his  people  their  imminent  danger  and  the  awful 
punishment  in  store  for  those  who  continued  at 
enmity  with  God.  Of  his  work  as  a  theologian, 
we  shall  have  occasion  to  speak  elsewhere. 

Some  illustrations  of  church  life  in  the  trou- 
blous years  following  the  Great  Awakening  will 
best  set  forth  the  confusion  arising,  the  difficul- 
ties between  Old  and  New  Lights,  and  the  hard- 
ships of  the  Separatists.  Among  the  colony 
churches,  the  trials  of  three  may  be  taken  as 
typical,  —  the  New  Haven  n0  church,  the  Can- 
terbury church,111  and  the  church  of  Enfield.112 
Nor  can  the  story  of  the  first  two  be  told  with- 
out including  in  it  an  account  of  later  acts  of 
the  Assembly  and  of  the  attitude  of  the  College 
during  the  years  of  the  great  schism. 

The  pastor  of  the  New  Haven  church  was 
Mr.  Noyes,  whom  many  of  his  parishioners 
thought  too  noncommittal,  erroneous,  or  pointless 
in  discussing  the  themes  which  the  itinerant 
preachers  loved  to  dwell  upon.  Moreover,  Mr. 
Noyes  had  refused  to  allow  the  Rev.  George  White- 
field  to  preach  from  his  pulpit  while  on  his  mem- 
orable pilgrimage  through  New  England.  Mr. 
Noyes  had  also  forbidden  the  hot-headed  James 


LIBERTY  IN   CONNECTICUT  249 

Davenport  to  occupy  it.  As  a  result  of  their  min- 
ister's actions,  the  New  Haven  church  was  divided 
in  their  estimate  of  their  pastor.  There  were 
the  friendly  Old  Lights  and  the  hostile  New. 
Neither  party  wished  to  carry  their  trouble  be- 
fore the  Consociation  of  New  Haven  county,  for 
that  had  come  at  last  to  be  a  tribunal  "  whose 
decision  was  at  that  time  considered  judicial  and 
final"  Moreover,  at  the  meeting  of  the  Gen- 
eral Consociation  at  Guilford  in  November,  1741, 
it  was  known  that  Mr.  Noyes  had  been  a  most 
active  worker  in  favor  of  suppressing  the  New 
Light  movement.  Consequently  the  New  Lights, 
though  at  the  time  in  the  minority,  sought  to 
find  a  way  out  from  under  the  jurisdiction  of 
the  Saybrook  Platform  and  its  councils  by  de- 
claring that  the  church  had  never  formally  been 
made  a  Consociated  church.  This  was  literally 
true,  but  the  weight  of  precedent  and  their  own 
observances  were  against  them.  Like  other 
churches  in  the  county,  which  had  come  slowly 
to  the  acceptance  of  the  Saybrook  councils  as 
ecclesiastical  courts,  it  had  finally  accepted  them 
in  their  most  authoritative  character.  Such  being 
the  case,  the  New  Lights  hesitated  to  appeal 
against  their  minister  before  a  court  presumably 
favorable  to  him.  After  the  New  Lights  had  de- 
clared the  church  not  under  the  Saybrook  system, 


250    THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  RELIGIOUS 

Mr.  Noyes  determined  to  take  the  vote  of  his 
people  as  to  whether  they  considered  themselves 
a  Consociated  church.  But  as  he  was  a  little 
fearful  of  the  result  of  the  vote,  he  secured  the 
victory  for  his  own  faction  by  excluding  the  New 
Lights  from  voting.  Thereupon,  the  New  Lights 
took  the  benefit  of  the  Toleration  Act  as  "  sober 
dissenters,"  and  became  a  Separate  church.  The 
committee,  appointed  for  the  organization  of  the 
new  church,  declared  that  "  they  were  reestab- 
lished as  the  original  church."  The  benefit  of 
the  Toleration  Act  accorded  to  these  New  Light 
dissenters  in  New  Haven,  to  some  in  Milf  ord,a  and 
to  several  other  reinvigorated  churches  in  the 
southern  part  of  the  colony,  roused  the  opposition 
of  the  Old  Lights  in  the  Assembly,  and,  as  they 
counted  a  majority,  they  repealed  the  act  in  the 
following  year,  1743.  Three  or  four  weeks  after 
the  New  Haven  New  Lights  had  formed  what 
was  afterwards  known  as  the  North  Church,  the 
General  Assembly  met  for  its  fall  session  in  that 
city,  and,  as  has  been  said,  the  New  Haven 
Association  immediately  sent  a  vote  of  thanks 
for  the  stringent  laws  passed  at  the  May  meet- 
ing. The  Court,  moved  by  this  indication  of  the 
popular  feeling,  by  the  importance  of  the  church 

°  The  Milford  church,  like  that  of  New  Haven,  suffered  for 
many  years  from  unjust  exactions  and  taxation. 


LIBERTY   IN   CONNECTICUT  251 

schism  and  its  influence  throughout  the  colony, 
by  the  conservative  attitude  of  Yale  College,  and 
also  by  having  among  its  delegates  large  num- 
bers of  Old  Lights,  proceeded  to  enact  yet  more 
stringent  measures  than  those  of  the  preceding 
session.  The  result  was  that  the  North  Church 
could  hire  no  preacher  until  they  could  find  one 
acceptable  to  the  First  Church  and  Society,  be- 
cause the  pastor  elected  by  the  First  Church 
was  the  only  lawfully  appointed  minister,  since 
he  owed  his  election  to  the  majority  votes  of  the 
First  Society.  Furthermore,  the  Court,  in  1743, 
refused  a  special  application  of  the  North  Church 
for  permission  to  settle  their  chosen  minister, 
and  it  was  some  five  or  six  years  before  it  ceased 
this  particular  kind  of  persecution  and  permitted 
the  church  to  have  a  regular  pastor. 

The  story  of  this  New  Haven  church  extends 
beyond  the  time-limit  of  this  chapter,  but  it  is 
better  completed  here.  The  stringency  of  the 
laws  only  increased  the  bitterness  of  faction.  In 
1745,  feeling  ran  so  high  that  a  father  refused 
to  attend  his  son's  funeral  merely  because  they 
belonged  to  opposing  factions,  and  an  attempt  to 
build  a  house  of  worship  for  this  Separate  church 
resulted  in  serious  disturbances  and  in  the  charge 
of  incendiarism.  The  New  Lights  preferred  im- 
prisonment  to  the  payment  of   taxes  assessed 


252    THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  RELIGIOUS 

for  the  benefit  of  the  First  Church.  At  last, 
in  1751,  the  October  session  of  the  General 
Assembly  thought  it  best  "  for  the  good  of  the 
colony  and  for  the  peace  and  harmony  of  this 
and  other  churches"  infected  by  its  example,  to 
advise  that  the  differences  within  it  be  healed  by 
a  council  to  be  composed  of  both  Old  and  New 
Lights.113  The  suggestion  bore  no  fruit,  and  a 
year  later  the  New  Lights  themselves  again  asked 
for  a  council,  even  offering  to  apologize  to  the 
First  Church  for  their  informality  in  separating 
from  it,  and  for  their  part  in  the  heated  contro- 
versy that  followed ;  but  Mr.  Noyes  induced  his 
party  to  refuse  to  accede  to  the  proposed  con- 
ference. As  the  North  Church  had  grown  strong 
enough  by  this  time  to  support  a  regular  pastor, 
Mr.  Bird  accepted  its  call ;  yet  for  six  years 
longer,  because  the  Assembly  refused  to  divide 
the  society,  the  New  Lights  were  held  to  be  mem- 
bers of  the  First  Society  and  taxable  for  its  sup- 
port. But  in  1757,  the  New  Lights  gained  the 
majority  both  in  church  and  society,  a  majority  of 
one.  At  once,  the  New  Lights  were  released  from 
taxes  to  the  First  Church.  Now  the  dominant 
party,  they  attempted  to  pay  back  old  scores, 
and  accordingly  demanded  a  division  of  both 
church  and  society  property.  The  claim  to  the 
first  was  unfair,  and  they  eventually  abandoned  it. 


LIBERTY  IN   CONNECTICUT  253 

The  church  quarrel  finally  ceased  in  1759,  after 
a  duration  of  eighteen  years,  and  in  1760  Mr. 
Bird  was  formally  installed  with  fitting  honors. 

In  the  early  days  of  the  Great  Awakening, 
the  Canterbury  church  became  divided  into  Old 
Lights  and  New,  and  a  separation  took  place. 
Before  the  separation,  a  committee,  who  were  ap- 
pointed to  look  up  the  church  records,  gave  it  as 
their  opinion  that  the  church  was  not  and  never 
had  been  pledged  to  the  Saybrook  Platform. 
Nevertheless,  the  very  men  who  gave  this  decision 
became  the  leaders  of  the  minority,  who  deter- 
mined to  support  the  government  in  carrying 
out  its  oppressive  laws  of  1742.  These  laws  had 
been  passed  while  the  committee  were  searching 
the  church  records.  The  majority  of  the  church, 
incensed  at  having  their  liberty  curtailed,  pro- 
ceeded to  defy  the  law  by  listening  to  lay  ex- 
horters  and  to  itinerants  just  as  they  had  been 
in  the  habit  of  doing  ever  since  the  church 
had  felt  the  quickening  influences  of  the  Great 
Awakening.  This  majority  declared  that  it  was 
"  regular  for  this  church  to  admit  persons  into 
this  church  that  are  in  full  communion  with 
other  churches  and  come  regularly  to  this."  This 
decision  the  minority  characterized  as  unlawful 
according  to  the  recent  acts  of  the  Assembly. 
The  majority  proceeded  to  argue  the  right  of  the 


254    THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  RELIGIOUS 

majority  in  the  church  as  above  the  right  of 
the  majority  in  the  society,  or  parish,  to  elect  the 
minister  and  to  guide  the  church.  In  an  attempt 
to  satisfy  both  parties,  candidates  were  tried,  but 
they  could  not  command  a  sufficient  number  of 
votes  from  either  side  to  be  located  permanently. 
A  meeting  in  1743  of  the  Consociation  of  Wind- 
ham (to  whose  jurisdiction  the  Canterbury  church 
belonged),  together  with  a  council  of  New 
Lights,  brought  temporary  peace.114  A  candi- 
date was  agreed  upon  ;  but  in  a  few  months  the 
New  Lights  became  dissatisfied  with  him  because 
of  his  approval  of  the  Saybrook  system  of  church 
government,  his  acceptance  of  the  Half- Way 
Covenant,  and  other  opinions.  Controversy  re- 
vived. The  majority  of  the  church  withdrew, 
and  for  a  while  met  in  a  private  house  for  ser- 
vices, which  were  conducted  by  Solomon  Paine 
or  by  some  other  layman.  As  a  result,  the  Wind- 
ham Association  passed  a  vote  of  censure  against 
the  seceders.  Paine  wrote  a  sharp  retort,  for 
which  he  was  arrested,  although  ostensibly  on  the 
charge  of  unlawfully  conducting  public  worship. 
He  refused  to  give  bonds  and  was  committed  to 
Windham  jail  in  September,  1744.  Such  crowds 
flocked  to  the  prison  yard  to  hear  him  preach, 
and  excitement  ran  so  high,  that  the  officer 
who  had  conducted  his  trial  appeared  before  the 


LIBERTY  IN  CONNECTICUT  255 

Assembly  to  protest  that  such  legal  proceed- 
ings did  but  tend  to  increase  the  disorders  they 
were  intended  to  cure.  Accordingly,  Paine  was 
released  in  October. 

The  interest  of  the  whole  colony  was  now 
centred  on  the  defiant  and  determined  Canter- 
bury Separate  church,  and  the  November  meet- 
ing of  the  Windham  Association  had  the  schism 
under  consideration,  when  Yale  expelled  two  Can- 
terbury students  whose  parents  were  members 
of  that  church. 

In  October,  1742,  in  order  to  protect  the  col- 
lege and  the  ministry  and  to  deal  a  blow  at  the 
"  Shepherd's  Tent,"  a  kind  of  school  or  academy 
which  the  New  Lights  had  set  up  in  New  Lon- 
don for  qualifying  young  men  as  exhorters, 
teachers,  and  ministers,  the  General  Assembly 
had  decided  that  no  persons  should  presume  to 
set  up  any  college,  seminary  of  learning,  or  any 
public  school  whatever,  without  special  leave  of 
the  legislature.115  The  Court  had  also  enacted 
that  no  one  should  take  the  benefit  of  the  laws 
respecting  the  settlement  and  support  of  ministers 
unless  he  were  a  graduate  of  Yale  or  Harvard,  or 
some  other  approved  Protestant  university.  It 
had  also  given  explicit  directions  for  the  super- 
vision of  the  schools  throughout  the  colony  and 
of  their  masters'  orthodoxy,116  and  had  advised 


256    THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  RELIGIOUS 

Yale  to  take  especial  care  that  her  students 
should  not  be  contaminated  by  the  New  Lights. 
The  Congregationalists  had  reported  the  "  Shep- 
herd's Tent"  as  a  noisy,  tumultuous  resort,  because 
it  was  occasionally  used  for  meetings,  and  had 
added  that  it  was  openly  taught  in  that  school 
that  there  would  soon  be  a  change  in  the  gov- 
ernment, and  that  disobedience  to  the  civil  laws 
was  not  wrong.  The  Assembly,  fearing  that  it 
might  "  train  up  youth  in  ill  practices  and  prin- 
ciples," sought  to  put  an  end  to  it.  As  to  the 
advice  to  the  college,  Yale  was  only  too  eager  to 
follow  it,  and  the  same  year  expelled  the  saintly 
David  Brainerd 117  for  criticising  the  prayers  of 
the  college  preachers  as  lacking  in  fervor.  His 
offense  was  against  a  college  law  of  the  preced- 
ing year  which  forbade  students  to  call  their 
officers  "  hypocritical,  carnal  or  unconverted 
men."  The  college,  as  the  New  Light  move- 
ment increased,  came  to  the  further  conclusion 
that  — 

since  the  principal  design  of  erecting  this  college  was 
to  train  up  a  succession  of  learned  and  orthodox 
ministers  by  whose  example  people  might  be  directed 
in  the  ways  of  religion  and  good  order  ...  it 
would  be  a  contradiction  to  the  civil  government  to 
support  a  college  to  educate  students  to  trample  upon 
their  own  laws,  to  break  up  the  churches  which  they 


LIBERTY  IN  CONNECTICUT  257 

establish  and  protect,  especially  since  the  General 
Assembly  in  May  1742,  thought  proper  to  give  the 
governors  of  the  college  some  special  advice  and  di- 
rection upon  that  account,  which  was  to  the  effect 
that  proper  care  should  be  taken  to  prevent  the  schol- 
ars from  imbibing  those  or  like  errors  ;  and  those 
who  would  not  be  orderly  and  submissive,  should  not 
be  allowed  the  privileges  of  the  college. 

Solomon  Paine  made  answer  to  this  law.  With 
fine  irony,  he  assured  the  people  that  in  effect 
it  forbade  all  students  attending  Yale  College 
to  go  to  any  religious  meeting  even  with  their 
parents,  should  they  be  Separatists  or  New 
Lights,  because  — 

no  scholar  upon  the  Lord's  day  or  other  day,  under 
pretence  of  religion,  shall  go  to  any  public  or  private 
meeting,  not  established  or  allowed  by  public  author- 
ity or  approved  by  the  President,  under  penalty  of  a 
fine,  confession,  admonition  or  otherwise,  according 
to  the  state  and  demerit  of  the  offence,  for  fear  that 
such  preaching  would  end  in  "  Quakerism,"  open  in- 
fidelity, and  the  destruction  of  all  Christian  religion, 
and  make  endless  divisions  in  the  Christian  church 
till  nothing  but  the  name  of  it  would  be  left  in  the 
world.118 

The  two  Cleveland  brothers,  John  and  Eben- 
ezer,  had  spent  the  fall  vacation  of  1744  a  with 
their  parents  at  their  home  in  Canterbury,  and 

a  Commencement  then  came  in  September. 


258     THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  RELIGIOUS 

by  request  of  their  elders  had  frequented  the 
Separatist  church  there.  On  their  return  to  Yale, 
the  boys  were  admonished.  They  professed  them- 
selves ready  to  apologize,  but  not  in  such  words 
as  the  authorities  thought  sufficiently  submissive, 
for  the  latter  considered  that  the  boys  had  broken 
the  laws  "  of  God,  of  the  Colony  and  of  the 
College."  119  The  boys  very  ably  argued  that, 
under  the  circumstances,  there  had  been  nothing 
else  for  them  to  do  but  to  go  to  church  with 
their  parents  when  requested  to  do  so,  and  held 
to  their  position.  Yale  expelled  them,  and  there 
followed  a  sensation  throughout  the  colony.120 

The  leaders  of  the  New  Light  party  in  the 
church  of  Canterbury  were  the  nearest  relatives 
and  friends  of  the  Cleveland  boys,  who  came  to 
be  regarded  as  martyrs  to  their  religion.  Their 
treatment  opened  the  question  as  to  whether  the 
steadily  increasing  numbers  of  New  Lights  were 
to  lose  for  their  children  the  benefit  of  the  col- 
lege, that  they  helped  to  support.  Must  they,  in 
order  to  send  their  sons  to  college,  deprive  them 
for  four  years  of  a  "  Gospel  ministry  "  and  lay 
them  open  to  consequent  grave  perils?  Why 
should  New  Lights  be  required  to  make  such  a 
sacrifice,  or  why,  in  vacation,  should  their  children 
be  required  to  submit  to  the  ecclesiastical  laws 
of  the  college  ?    If  Episcopalians  were  permitted 


LIBERTY  IN  CONNECTICUT  259 

to  have  their  sons,  students  at  Yale,  worship 
with  them  during  the  vacations,  why  should  not 
the  same  liberty  be  granted  to  equally  good 
citizens  who  differed  even  less  in  theological 
opinions  ? 

Because  of  this  college  incident  the  difficulties 
in  the  Canterbury  church  attracted  still  more 
attention,  but  the  end  of  the  schism  was  at  hand. 
In  the  month  that  witnessed  the  expulsion  of  the 
Clevelands,  the  minority  of  the  original  First 
Church  voted  that  they  were  "  The  Church  of 
Canterbury,"  and  that  those  who  had  gone  forth 
from  among  them  in  the  January  of  the  preced- 
ing year,  1743,  as  Congregationalists  after  the 
Cambridge  Platform,  had  abrogated  that  of  Say- 
brook.  Consequently,  to  the  minority  lawfully 
belonged  the  election  of  the  minister,  the  meeting 
house,  and  the  taxes  for  ministerial  support. 
Having  thus  fortified  their  position,  they  by  a 
later  vote  declared :  — 

That  those  in  the  society  who  are  differently  minded 
from  us,  and  can't  conscientiously  join  in  ye  settle- 
ment of  Mr.  James  Coggeshall  as  our  minister  may 
have  free  liberty  to  enjoy  their  own  opinion,  and  we 
are  willing  they  should  be  released  and  discharged 
from  paying  anything  to  ye  support  of  Mr.  Cogges- 
hall, or  living  under  his  ministry  any  longer  than 
until  they  have  parish  privileges  granted  them  and 


260    THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  RELIGIOUS 

are  settled  in  church  by  themselves  according  to  ye 
order  of  ye  Gospel,  or  are  lawfully  released.121 

At  the  repeal  of  the  Toleration  Act  in  1743,  a 
new  method  had  been  prescribed  for  sober  dis- 
senters who  wished  to  separate  from  the  state 
church,  and  who  were  not  of  the  recognized  sects. 
The  method  of  relief,  thereafter,  was  for  the 
dissenters,  no  matter  how  widely  scattered  in 
the  colony,  to  appeal  in  person  to  the  General 
Assembly  and  ask  for  special  exemption.  More- 
over, they  were  promised  only  that  their  requests 
would  be  listened  to,  and  the  Assembly  was  grow- 
ing steadily  more  and  more  averse  to  granting 
such  petitions.  As  a  result  of  this  policy,  the 
Separatist  church  of  Canterbury  did  not  have  a 
very  good  prospect  of  immediate  ability  to  accept 
the  good-will  of  the  First  Church,  which  went 
even  farther  than  the  resolution  cited  above.  The 
First  Church  offered  to  assist  the  Separatists  in 
obtaining  recognition  from  the  Assembly.  This 
offer  the  Separatists  refused,  preferring  to  sub- 
mit to  double  taxation,  and  thus  to  become  a 
standing  protest  to  the  injustice  of  the  laws. 

After  the  expulsion  of  the  Clevelands,  Yale 
made  one  more  pronounced  effort  to  discipline 
its  students  and  to  repress  the  growth  of  the  lib- 
eral spirit.  She  attempted  to  suppress  a  reprint 
of  Locke's  essay  upon  "  Toleration  "  which  the 


LIBERTY  IN  CONNECTICUT  261 

senior  class  had  secretly  printed  at  their  expense. 
An  attempt  to  overawe  the  students  and  to  make 
them  confess  on  pain  of  expulsion  was  met  by 
the  spirited  resistance  of  one  of  the  class,  who 
threatened  to  appeal  to  the  King  in  Council  if 
his  diploma  were  denied  him.  His  diploma  was 
granted ;  and  some  years  after,  when  the  senti- 
ment in  the  colony  had  further  changed,  the  col- 
lege gave  the  Cleveland  brothers  their  degree. 

The  church  in  Enfield122  had  an  experience 
somewhat  similar  to  that  of  Canterbury,  to  which 
it  seems  to  have  looked  for  spiritual  advice  and 
example.  The  Enfield  Separate  church  was  prob- 
ably organized  between  1745  and  1751,  though  its 
first  known  documents  are  a  series  of  letters  to 
the  Separate  church  in  Canterbury  covering  the 
period  1751-53.  These  letters  sought  advice 
in  adjusting  difficulties  that  were  creating  great 
discord  in  the  church,  which  had  already  separated 
from  the  original  church  of  Enfield.  In  1762, 
the  Enfield  Separatists,  once  more  in  harmony, 
renewed  their  covenant,  and  called  Mr.  Nathaniel 
Collins  to  be  their  pastor.  They  struggled  for 
existence  until  1769,  when  they  appealed  to  the 
General  Assembly  for  exemption  from  the  rates 
still  levied  upon  them  for  the  benefit  of  the  First 
Society.  They  asked  for  recognition,  separation, 
and  incorporation  as  the   Second   Society  and 


262     THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  RELIGIOUS 

Church  of  Enfield.  They  were  refused ;  but  in 
May  of  the  following  year,  —  a  year  to  be  marked 
by  special  legislation  in  behalf  of  dissenters, — 
the  Enfield  Separatists  again  memorialized  the 
Assembly,  and  in  response  were  permitted  to 
organize  their  own  church.123  This  permission, 
however,  was  limited  to  the  memorialists,  eighty 
in  number;  to  their  children,  if  within  six 
months  after  reaching  their  majority  they  filed 
certificates  of  membership  in  this  Separate  church; 
and  to  strangers,  who  should  enter  the  new  so- 
ciety within  one  year  of  their  settling  in  the  town. 
The  history  of  the  Enfield  Separatists  gives 
glimpses  of  the  frequent  double  discord  between 
the  New  Lights  and  the  Old  and  among  the  New 
Lights  themselves.  The  period  of  the  Enfield 
persecution  extended  over  years  when,  elsewhere 
in  the  colony,  Separatists  had  obtained  recogni- 
tion of  their  claims  to  toleration,  if  only  through 
special  acts  and  not  by  general  legislation. 

If  churches  suffered  from  the  severe  ecclesias- 
tical laws  of  1742-43,  individuals  did  also. 
Under  the  law  which  considered  traveling  min- 
isters as  vagrants,  and  which  the  Assembly  had 
made  still  more  stringent  by  the  additional  pen- 
alty "  to  pay  down  the  cost  of  transportation,"  so 
learned  a  man  as  the  Rev.  Samuel  Finley,  after- 
wards president  of   Princeton,   was  imprisoned 


LIBERTY  IN  CONNECTICUT  263 

and  driven  from  the  colony  because  he  insisted 
upon  preaching  in  Connecticut.  Indeed,  it  was 
his  persistence  in  returning  to  the  colony  that 
caused  the  magistrates  to  increase  the  severity 
of  the  law.12*  When  the  ministers  John  Owen 
of  Groton  and  Benjamin  Pomeroy  of  Hebron,  as 
well  as  the  itinerant  James  Davenport  of  South- 
old,  criticised  the  laws,  all  of  them  were  at  once 
arraigned  for  the  offense  before  the  Assembly. 
There  was  so  much  excitement  over  the  arrest  of 
Pomeroy  and  Davenport  that  it  threatened  a 
riot.  All  three  men  were  discharged,  but  Daven- 
port was  ordered  out  of  the  colony  for  his  itinerant 
preaching  and  for  teaching  resistance  to  the  civil 
laws.  Pomeroy,  his  friend,  had  declared  that  the 
laws  forbade  any  faithful  minister,  or  any  one 
faithful  in  civil  authority,  to  hold  office.  Events 
bore  out  his  statement,  for  ministers  were 
hounded,  and  the  New  Light  justices  of  the  peace, 
and  other  magistrates,  were  deprived  of  office. 
Pomeroy,  himself,  was  discharged  only  to  be  com- 
plained of  for  irregular  preaching  at  Colchester 
and  in  punishment  to  be  deprived  of  his  salary 
for  seven  years.125  The  Rev.  Nathan  Stone  of 
Stonington  was  disciplined  for  his  New  Light 
sympathies.  Philemon  Robbins  of  Branford  was 
deposed  for  preaching  to  the  Baptists  at  Walling- 
ford.   This  last  procedure  was  the  work  of  the 


2C4    THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  RELIGIOUS 

Consociation  of  New  Haven  county,  which  thereby 
began  a  six  years'  contest,  1741-47,  with  the 
Branford  church.  In  1745  this  church  attempted 
to  throw  off  the  yoke  of  the  Consociation  by 
renouncing  the  Saybrook  Platform. 

During  these  years  of  persecution,  the  opposi- 
tion to  the  Old  Light  policy  was  gradually  gain- 
ing effective  power,  although  the  college  had 
expelled  Brainerd,  and  Mr.  Cook,  one  of  the  Yale 
corporation,  had  found  it  expedient  to  resign  be- 
cause of  his  too  prominent  part  in  the  formation 
of  the  North  Church  of  New  Haven.  The  Old 
Lights  in  the  legislature  of  1743  passed  the 
repeal  of  the  Toleration  Act  because  the  New 
Lights  had  no  commanding  vote  ;  but  they  were 
increasing  throughout  the  colony.  Fairfield  East 
Consociation  had  licensed  Brainerd  the  year  that 
Yale  expelled  him.  Twelve  ministers  of  New 
London  and  Windham  county  had  met  to  approve 
the  revival,  notwithstanding  the  repeal  of  the 
Toleration  Act  and  the  known  antagonism  of 
the  Windham  Association  to  the  Separatists. 
Windham  Consociation  and  that  of  Fairfield 
East  favored  the  revival.  Large  numbers  of 
converts  were  made  in  these  districts,  and  many 
also  in  Hartford  county.  In  the  New  Haven  dis- 
trict the  spirit  of  antagonism  and  of  persecution 
was  strongest. 


LIBERTY  IN  CONNECTICUT  265 

It  was  in  accordance  with  the  laws  of  1742-43 
that  Mack,  Shaw,  and  Pyrlaeus,  Moravian 
missionaries,  on  a  visit  in  1744  to  their  mission 
stations  among  the  Indians  in  Connecticut,  were 
seized  as  Papists  and  hustled  from  sheriff  to 
sheriff  for  three  days  until  "the  Governor  of 
Connecticut  honorably  dismissed  them,"  though 
their  accusers  insisted  upon  their  being  bound 
over  under  a  penalty  of  £1 00  to  keep  the  law. 
"  Being  not  fully  acquainted  with  all  the  special 
laws  of  the  country,  they  perceived  a  trap  laid 
for  them  and  thought  it  prudent  to  retire  to 
Shekomeko"  (Pine  Plains,  Dutchess  County, 
N.  Y.).  Missionaries  sent  out  from  Nazareth  and 
Bethlehem,  Pennsylvania,  had  established  this 
sub-centre  for  work  in  New  York  and  Connecti- 
cut, and  in  the  latter  colony,  in  1740-43,  had 
made  Indian  converts  at  Sharon,  Salisbury  In- 
dian Pond,  near  Newtown,  and  at  Pachgatgoch, 
two  miles  southwest  of  Kent.  Here  was  their 
principal  station  in  Connecticut.  They  had  made, 
in  all,  some  twenty  converts  among  the  Indians, 
and  had  reclaimed  several  of  their  chief  men  from 
drunkenness  and  idleness.  Moravian  principles 
forbade  these  missionaries  to  take  an  oath.  Con- 
sequently, the  greed  of  traders,  the  rivalry  of 
creeds,  together  with  the  belief  that  there  was 
something  wrong  about  men  who  would  not  swear 


26G     THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF   RELIGIOUS 

allegiance  to  King  George,  —  notwithstanding 
their  willingness  to  affirm  it,  and  notwithstanding 
their  denial  of  the  Pretender,  —  gave  rise  to  the 
conviction  that  they  must  be  Papists0  in  league 
with  the  French  and  their  Indian  allies.  Accord- 
ingly both  magistrates  and  ministers  arrested  the 
missionaries,  and  hurried  them  before  the  court 
at  Poughkeepsie  or  at  New  Milford.  Though  the 
governors  of  both  states  recognized  the  value  of 
the  mission  work,  popular  feeling  ran  so  high 
that  New  York,  in  September,  1744,  passed  a 
law  requiring  them  to  take  the  oaths  prescribed  or 
to  leave  the  country,  and  also  commanding  that 
"vagrant  Teachers,  Moravians,  and  disguised 
Papists  should  not  preach  or  teach  in  public  or 
private"  without  first  obtaining  a  license.  In 
Connecticut,  as  has  been  said,  the  laws  of  1742- 
1743  were  enforced  against  them;  later,  when 
during  the  Old  French  War  groundless  rumors 
of  their  intrigues  with  hostile  Indians  were  circu- 
lated against  them,  a  vain  hunt  was  made  for 
three  thousand  stands  of  arms  that  were  said  to 
be  secreted  in  their  missions.  The  severe  per- 
secution in  New  York  had  driven  these  mission- 
aries into  Pennsylvania  and  into  Connecticut,  but 

a  And  this  notwithstanding-  their  willingness  to  include  in 
their  affirmation  a  denial  of  Mariolatry,  purgatory,  and  other 
Tital  Romish  tenets. 


LIBERTY  IN  CONNECTICUT  267 

these  rumors  of  intrigue  broke  up  their  work 
and  caused  the  abandonment  of  their  stations  in 
the  latter  colony.  Some  of  these,  such  as  Kent, 
Sharon,  and  Salisbury,  were  revived  in  1749- 
1762,  at  the  request  of  the  English  settlers  as 
well  as  of  the  Indian  converts.126 

Returning  to  the  main  story  of  the  progress 
of  dissent,  we  find  that  in  1746  the  General 
Court  of  Connecticut  felt  obliged  to  safeguard 
the  Establishment  by  the  passage  of  a  law  en- 
titled, "  Concerning  who  shall  vote  in  Society 
Meetings."  127  Its  preamble  states  that  persons 
exempted  from  taxes  for  the  support  of  the  estab- 
lished ministry,  because  of  their  dissenting  from 
the  way  of  worship  and  ministry  of  the  Presby- 
terian, Congregational,  or  Consociated  churches, 
"  ought  not  to  vote  in  society  meetings  with  re- 
spect to  the  support  or  to  the  building  and  main- 
taining of  meeting  houses,"  yet  some  persons, 
exempted  as  aforesaid, "  have  adventured  to  vote 
and  act  therein,"  as  there  was  no  express  law  to 
the  contrary.  The  new  law  forbade  such  voting, 
and  limited  the  ecclesiastical  ballot  to  members 
of  the  Establishment  who  "  were  persons  of  full 
age  and  in  full  communion  with  the  church,"  and 
to  other  unexempted  persons  who  held  a  freehold 
rated  at  fifty  shillings  per  year,  or  personal  pro- 
perty to  the  value  of  forty  pounds.  This  law  was 


268    THE   DEVELOPMENT  OF  RELIGIOUS 

just,  in  that  it  excluded  all  dissenters  who  had 
received  exemption  from  Presbyterian  rates.  It 
included  all  others  having  the  property  qualifi- 
cation, whether  they  wanted  to  vote  or  not.  That 
it  was  felt  to  be  a  necessity  is  a  witness  to  the 
increasing  recognition  of  the  strength  of  the  dis- 
senting element. 

In  1747,  the  Consociation  of  Windham  sent 
forth  a  violent  pamphlet  describing  the  Separa- 
tists as  a  people  in  revolt  against  God  and  in 
rebellion  against  the  Church  and  government. 
But  the  tide  of  public  opinion  was  turning,  and 
popular  sentiment  did  not  support  the  writers  of 
this  pamphlet.  Moreover,  the  secular  affairs  of 
the  colony  were  calling  minds  away  from  reli- 
gious contentions  as  the  stress  of  the  Old  French 
War  was  more  and  more  felt.  In  1748,  ventur- 
ing upon  the  improvement  in  public  sentiment, 
Solomon  Paine  sent  to  the  legislature  a  memorial 
signed  by  three  hundred  and  thirty  persons  and 
asking  for  a  repeal  of  such  laws  as  debarred  people 
from  enjoying  the  liberty  "  granted  by  God  and 
tolerated  by  the  King."128  It  was  known  to  these 
memorialists  that  a  revision  of  the  laws,  first 
undertaken  in  1742,  was  nearing  completion,  and 
their  desire  was  that  all  obnoxious  or  unfair 
acts  should  be  repealed.  The  petition  met  with 
a  sharp  rebuff,  and,  as  a  punishment,  three  mem- 


LIBERTY  IN  CONNECTICUT  269 

bers  were  expelled  from  the  Assembly  for  being 
Separatists.  But  by  such  measures  the  Old 
Lights  were  overreaching  themselves.  A  mark 
of  the  turning  of  public  opinion  was  given  this 
same  year,  when,  upon  the  request  of  his  old 
church  in  Hebron,  the  church  vouching  for  his 
work  and  character,  the  Assembly  restored  to 
his  ministerial  rights  and  privileges  the  Rev. 
James  Pomeroy.  The  unjust  laws  of  1742-43 
and  of  the  following  years  were  never  formally 
repealed,  but  were  quietly  dropped  out  of  the 
revision  of  the  laws  issued  in  1750. 

Thenceforth  the  people  began  to  tolerate  vari- 
ety in  religious  opinions  with  better  grace,  and 
the  dominant  authoritative  rule  of  the  Saybrook 
Platform  began  to  wane,  though  for  twenty  years 
more  it  strove  to  assert  its  power.  In  1755,  the 
Middletown  Association  advised  licensing  can- 
didates for  the  ministry  for  a  term  of  years.  The 
idea  was  to  prevent  errors  arising  from  the 
personal  interpretation  of  the  Scriptures  and  in- 
difference to  dogmatic  truths  of  religion  from 
creeping  into  the  churches.  About  the  same 
time,  the  Consociation  of  New  Haven  invited 
their  former  member,  Mr.  Robbins  of  Branford, 
to  sit  with  them  again  at  the  installation  of  Mr. 
Street  of  East  Haven.  Conciliatory  acts  and 
measures  such  as  these  originated  with  both  the 


270    THE   DEVELOPMENT   OF  RELIGIOUS 

Old  and  New  Lights,  and  did  much  to  lessen  the 
division  between  them.  Discussion  turned  more 
and  more  from  personal  opinions,  character,  and 
abilities,  to  considerations  of  doctrinal  points.  The 
churches  found  more  and  more  in  common,  while 
worldly  interests  left  the  masses  with  only  a  half- 
hearted concern  in  church  discussions. 

To  summarize  the  effect  of  the  Great  Awaken- 
ing as  evidenced  by  the  great  schism  and  its  results 
thus  far  considered  :  The  strength  of  the  revival 
movement,  as  such,  was  soon  spent.  The  number 
of  its  converts  throughout  New  England  was  esti- 
mated by  Dr.  Dexter  to  be  as  high  as  forty  or 
fifty  thousand,  while  later  writers  put  it  as  low 
as  ten  or  twelve  thousand,  out  of  the  entire  pop- 
ulation of  three  hundred  thousand  souls.  The 
years  1740-42  were  the  years  of  the  Great  Awak- 
ening, and  after  them  there  were  comparatively 
few  conversions  during  any  given  time.  Even  in 
Jonathan  Edwards's  own  church  in  Northampton 
there  were  no  converts  between  1744  and  1748. 
The  influence  of  the  Great  Awakening  was  not, 
however,  transient,  nor  was  it  confined  to  the 
Congregational  churches,  whether  of  the  Cam- 
bridge or  the  Saybrook  type.  Baptist  churches 
felt  the  impetus,  receiving  many  directly  into  their 
membership,  and  also  indirectly,  from  those  Sep- 
aratist churches  which  found  themselves  too  weak 


LIBERTY  IN  CONNECTICUT  271 

to  endure.  Episcopalians  added  to  their  num- 
bers from  among  religiously  inclined  persons  who 
sought  a  calm  and  stable  church  home  unaffected 
by  church  and  political  strife.  The  Great  Awaken- 
ing created  the  Separatist  movement  and  the  New 
Light  party,  revitalized  the  Established  churches, 
invigorated  others,  and  through  the  persecution 
and  counter-persecution  that  the  great  schism 
produced,  taught  the  Connecticut  people  more 
and  more  of  religious  tolerance,  and  so  brought 
them  nearer  to  the  dawn  of  religious  liberty. 
Such  liberty  could  only  come  after  the  downfall 
of  the  Saybrook  Platform,  and  after  a  complete 
severance  of  Church  and  State.  The  last  could 
not  come  for  three  quarters  of  a  century.  Mean- 
while the  leaven  of  the  great  revival  would  be 
workings  On  its  intellectual  side,  the  Great 
Awakening  led  to  the  discussion  of  doctrinal 
points,  an  advance  from  questions  of  church 
polity.  These  themes  of  pulpit  and  of  religious 
press  led,  finally,  to  a  live  interest  in  practical 
Christianity  and  to  a  more  genial  religion  than 
that  which  had  characterized  the  Puritan  age. 
The  Half- Way  Covenant  had  been  killed.  Edu- 
cation had  received  a  new  impulse,  Christian  mis- 
sions were  reinvigorated,  and  the  monthly  concert 
of  prayer  for  the  conversion  of  the  world  was  in- 
stituted.129   True,  French  and  Indian  wars,  the 


272  RELIGIOUS  LIBERTY  IN  CONNECTICUT 

Spanish  entanglement  with  its  West  Indian  ex- 
pedition, and  the  consuming  political  interests 
of  the  years  1745-83,  shortened  the  period  of 
energetic  spiritual  life,  and  ushered  in  another 
half  century  of  religious  indifference.  But  during 
that  half  century  the  followers  of  Edwards  and 
Bellamy  were  to  develop  a  less  severe  and  more 
winning  system  of  theology,  and  the  fellowship 
of  the  churches  was  to  suggest  the  colonial 
committees  of  safety  as  a  preliminary  to  the 
birth  of  a  nation,  founded  upon  the  inherent 
equality  of  all  men  before  the  law.  This  concep- 
tion of  political  and  civil  liberty  was  to  develop 
side  by  side  with  a  clearer  notion  of  the  value  of 
religious  freedom. 


CHAPTER  XI 

THE  ABROGATION  OF  THE  SAYBROOK 
PLATFORM 

That  house  cannot  stand.  —  Mark  iii,  25. 
The  times  change  and  we  change  with  them.  —  Proverb. 

The  omission  of  all  persecuting  acts  from  the 
revision  of  the  laws  in  1750  was  evidence  that 
the  worst  features  of  the  great  schism  were  pass- 
ing, that  public  opinion  as  a  whole  had  grown 
averse  to  any  great  severity  toward  the  Separa- 
tists as  dissenters.  But  the  continuance  in  the 
revised  statutes  of  the  Saybrook  Platform  as 
the  legalized  constitution  of  the  "  Presbyterian, 
Congregational  or  Consociated  Church,"  and  the 
almost  total  absence  of  any  provision  for  exempt- 
ing Congregational  Separatists  from  the  taxes 
levied  in  its  behalf,  operated,  notwithstanding 
the  many  acts  of  conciliation  between  these  two 
types  of  churches,  to  revive  at  times  the  milder 
forms  of  persecution.  And  such  injustice  would 
continue  until  the  Separatists  as  a  body  were 
legally  exempted  from  ecclesiastical  rates,  and 
until  the  Saybrook  Platform  was  either  formally 


274:    THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  RELIGIOUS 

annulled  or,  in  its  turn,  quietly  dropped  from 
the  statute  book.  But  henceforth,  the  measure 
of  intolerance  would  be  determined  more  by  local 
sentiment  and  less  by  the  text  of  the  law,  more 
by  the  proportion  of  Old  Lights  to  New  in  a 
given  community.  And  the  measure  of  tolera- 
tion must  eventually  take  the  form  of  legalized 
rights  rather  than  of  special  privileges,  and  this 
through  a  growing  appreciation  of  the  value 
of  the  Separatists  as  citizens.  The  abrogation  of 
the  Saybrook  Platform  might  follow  upon  a  re- 
affiliation  of  all  Presbyterians  and  all  Congre- 
gationalists  in  a  new  spirit  of  mutual  tolerance 
and  helpfulness.  Whatever  the  events  or  influ- 
ences that  should  bring  about  this  reaffiliation, 
the  new  bonds  of  church  life  would  necessarily 
lack  the  stringency  of  the  palmy  days  of  Say- 
brook  autocratic  rule.  Consequently  when  such 
a  time  arrived,  the  Platform,  at  least  in  its  let- 
ter, could  be  dropped  from  the  law-book.  The 
old  colonial  laws  for  the  support  of  religion  would 
still  suffice  to  protect  and  exalt  the  Establish- 
ment, and  to  preserve  it  as  the  spiritual  arm  of 
the  State.  It  so  happened  that  toleration  was 
granted  to  the  Separatists  at  the  beginning  of 
the  Eevolutionary  struggle,  and  that  the  abroga- 
tion of  the  Saybrook  Platform  followed  close 
upon  its  victorious  end.    Many  influences,  both 


LIBERTY  IN  CONNECTICUT  275 

religious  and  secular,  had  their  part  in  bringing 
about  these  progressive  steps  toward  religious 
freedom,  toward  full  and  free  liberty  of  con- 
science. 

The  revision  of  the  laws  completed  in  1750 
had  been  under  consideration  since  1742.  At 
the  beginning  of  the  great  schism,  the  important 
task  had  been  placed  in  the  hands  of  a  com- 
mittee consisting  of  Roger  Wolcott,  Thomas 
Fitch,  Jonathan  Trumbull,  and  John  Bulkley, 
Judge  of  the  Superior  Court.  The  first  three 
names .  are  at  once  recognized  as  Connecticut's 
chief  magistrates  in  1750-54,  1754-66,  1769- 
1783,  respectively.  During  the  eight  years  that 
the  revision  was  in  the  hands  of  this  commit- 
tee, the  church  quarrel  had  passed  its  crisis  ;  the 
Old  Lights  had  slowly  yielded  their  political,  as 
well  as  their  ecclesiastical  power  ;  and  their  con- 
trolling influence  was  rapidly  passing  from  them. 
The  Old  French  War,  with  its  pressing  affairs, 
had  so  affected  the  life  of  the  colony  as  to  lessen 
religious  fervor,  weaken  ecclesiastical  animosi- 
ties, and,  at  the  same  time,  to  develop  a  broader 
conception  of  citizenship. 

English  influence,  moreover,  had  modified  the 
ecclesiastical  laws  in  the  revision  of  1750.  The 
Connecticut  authorities,  when  imbued  with  the 
persecuting  spirit,  did  not  always  stop  to  distin- 


276    THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  RELIGIOUS 

giiisli  between  the  legally  exempt  Baptist  dis- 
senters and  the  unexempted  Separatists.  This 
was  due  in  part  to  the  fact  that  many  of  the 
latter,  like  the  church  of  which .  Isaac  Backus 
was  the  leader,  went  over  to  the  Baptist  denomi- 
nation. The  two  sects  held  similar  opinions  upon 
all  subjects,  except  that  of  baptism.  It  was 
much  easier  to  obtain  exemption  from  ecclesias- 
tical taxes  by  showing  Baptist  certificates  than 
to  run  the  risk  of  being  denied  exemption  when 
appeal  was  made  to  the  Assembly,  either  indi- 
vidually or  as  a  church  body,  the  form  of  petition 
demanded  of  these  Separatists.  The  persecuted 
Baptists  at  once  turned  to  England  for  assist- 
ance, and  to  the  Committee  of  English  Dissenters, 
of  which  Dr.  Avery  was  chairman. 

This  committee  had  been  appointed  to  look 
after  the  interests  of  all  dissenters,  both  in  Eng- 
land and  in  her  colonies,  for  the  English  dissent- 
ing bodies  were  growing  in  numbers  and  in 
political  importance.  To  this  committee  the  Con- 
necticut Baptists  reported  such  cases  of  persecu- 
tion as  that  of  the  Saybrook  Separatist  church, 
which  in  1744  suffered  through  the  arrest  of 
fourteen  of  its  members  for  "  holding  a  meeting 
contrary  to  law  on  God's  holy  Sabbath  day." 
These  fourteen  people  were  arraigned,  fined,  and 
driven  on  foot   through   deep   mud   twenty-five 


LIBERTY  IN  CONNECTICUT  277 

miles  to  New  London,  where  they  were  thrust 
into  prison  for  refusing  to  pay  their  fines,  and 
left  there  without  fire,  food,  or  beds.  There  they 
were  kept  for  several  weeks,  dependent  for  the 
necessaries  of  life  upon  the  good  will  of  neigh- 
boring Baptists.130  The  Separatists  could  report 
the  trials  of  the  Separate  church  of  Canterbury, 
of  that  of  Enfield,  of  the  First  Separate  church 
of  Milford,  hindered  in  the  exercise  of  its  legal 
rights  for  over  twenty  years,  and  they  could  also 
recount  the  persecution  of  churches  and  of  indi- 
viduals in  Wether sfield,  Windsor,  Middletown, 
Norwich,  and  elsewhere.  Upon  receiving  such 
reports,  Dr.  Avery  had  written,  "  I  am  very  sorry 
to  hear  of  the  persecuting  spirit  which  pre- 
vails in  Connecticut.  ...  If  any  gentleman  that 
suffers  by  these  coercive  laws  will  apply  to  me, 
I  will  use  my  influence  that  justice  be  done 
them."  The  letter  was  read  in  the  Assembly, 
and  is  said  to  have  influenced  the  committee  of 
revision,  causing  them  to  omit  the  persecuting 
laws  of  1742-44,  in  order  that  they  might  no 
longer  be  quoted  against  the  colony.  Governor 
Law  replied  to  Dr.  Avery  that  the  disorders 
and  excesses  of  the  dissenters  had  compelled  the 
very  legislation  of  which  they  complained.  To 
which  Dr.  Avery  returned  answer  that,  while 
disorders  were  to  be  regretted,  civil  penalties 


278    THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  RELIGIOUS 

were  not  their  proper  remedy.  This  was  a  senti- 
ment that  was  gaining  adherents  in  the  colony 
as  well  as  in  England.  Among  other  instances 
of  persecution  among  the  Baptists  was  that  of 
Samuel,  brother  of  Isaac  Backus,  who  in  1752, 
with  his  mother  and  two  members  of  the  Bap- 
tist society,  was  imprisoned  for  thirteen  days 
on  account  of  refusal  to  pay  the  ecclesiastical 
taxes.131  Another  was  that  of  Deacon  Nathaniel 
Drake,  Jr.,132  of  Windsor,  who,  in  1761,  refused 
to  pay  the  assessment  for  the  Second  Society's 
new  meeting-house.  For  six  years  the  magistrates 
wrestled  with  the  Deacon,  striving  to  collect 
the  assessment.  But  the  Deacon  was  obstinate, 
and  rather  than  pay  a  tax  of  which  his  con- 
science disapproved,  he  preferred  to  be  branded 
in  the  hand.  Outside  of  Baptist  or  Separatist, 
there  were  other  afflicted  churches,  such  as  that 
of  Wallingford,133  where  the  New  Lights  could 
complain  that,  in  1758,  the  Consociation  of  New 
Haven  county  had  refused  to  install  the  can- 
didate of  the  majority,  Mr.  Dana;  and  had 
attempted  to  discipline  the  twelve  ministers  who 
had  united  in  ordaining  him  ;  and  that  as  a  result 
the  twelve  were  forced  to  meet  in  an  Association 
by  themselves  for  fourteen  years,  or  until  1772. 
The  Separatists  attempted  to  obtain  exemp- 
tion through  petitions  to  the  Assembly,  trusting 


LIBERTY  IN   CONNECTICUT  279 

that,  as  each  new  election  sent  more  and  more 
New  Lights  to  that  body,  each  prayer  for  re- 
lief would  be  more  favorably  received.  One  of 
the  most  important  of  these  petitions  was  that 
of  1753,  when  more  than  twenty  Separatist 
churches,  representing  about  a  thousand  mem- 
bers, united  in  an  appeal  wherein  they  com- 
plained of  the  distraining  of  their  goods  to  meet 
assessments  and  taxes  for  the  benefit  of  the 
Established  churches ;  of  imprisonments,  with 
consequent  deprivation  of  comforts  for  their 
families ;  and  of  the  danger  to  the  civil  peace 
threatened  by  these  evils.  The  Assembly  refused 
redress.  Whereupon  the  petition  was  at  once 
reconstructed,0  and,  with  authentic  records  and 
testimonies,  to  which  Governor  Fitch  set  the  seal 
of  Connecticut,  was  sent,  in  1756,134  to  London. 
The  Committee  in  behalf  of  Dissenters  were  to 
see  that  it  was  presented  to  the  King  in  Council. 
The  petition  charged  violation  of  the  colony's 
charter,  excessive  favoritism,  and  legislation  in 
favor  of  one  Christian  sect  to  the  exclusion  of 
all  others  and  to  the  oppression,  even,  of  some. 
The  English  Committee  thought  that  these  charges 
might  anger  the  King  and  endanger  the  Con- 
necticut charter.    Accordingly,  they  again  wrote 

a  As  a  petition  "  To  the  King's  Most  Excellent  Majesty  in 
Council." 


280    THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  RELIGIOUS 

to  the  Connecticut  authorities,  remonstrating  with 
them  because  of  their  treatment  of  dissenters. 
At  the  same  time,  they  sent  a  letter  advising  the 
petitioners  to  show  their  loyalty  to  the  best  in- 
terests of  the  colony  by  withdrawing  their  com- 
plaint. These  dissenters  were  further  advised  to 
begin  at  once  a  suit  in  the  Connecticut  courts 
for  their  rights,  and  with  the  intent  of  carrying 
their  case  to  England,  should  the  colony  fail  to 
do  them  justice.  Legal  proceedings  were  imme- 
diately begun,  but  were  allowed  to  lapse,  partly 
because  of  the  press  of  secular  interests,  for  the 
colonial  wars,  the  West  India  expedition,  and 
other  affairs  of  great  moment. claimed  attention, 
and  partly  because  there  were  indications  that 
the  government  would  regard  the  Separatists 
more  favorably. 

In  the  colony  itself  a  change  was  taking  place 
through  which  the  college  was  to  go  over  to  the 
side  of  the  New  Lights.  In  1755,  President 
Clap  had  established  the  College  Church  in  order 
to  remove  the  students  from  the  party  strife 
that  was  still  distracting  the  churches.  In  order 
to  avoid  a  conflict  over  the  matter,  he  refused  to 
ask  the  consent  of  the  Assembly,  claiming  the 
right  of  an  incorporated  college  and  the  prece- 
dent of  the  English  universities,  since,  in  1745, 
the  Assembly  had  formally  incorporated  "  The 


LIBERTY   IN  CONNECTICUT  281 

President  and  Fellows  of  Yale  College,"  vesting 
in  them  all  the  usual  powers  appertaining  to 
colleges.  In  the  same  year,  also,  the  initial  step 
toward  establishing  a  chair  of  divinity  had  been 
taken,  and  it  became  the  first  toward  the  found- 
ing of  the  separate  College  Church.  President 
Clap  always  maintained  that  "  the  great  design 
of  founding  Yale  was  to  educate  ministers  in 
our  way,"  135  and  the  chair  of  divinity  had  been 
established  in  answer  to  the  suggestion  of  the 
Court  that  the  college  take  measures  to  protect  its 
students  from  the  New  Light  movement.  Presi- 
dent Clap  was  hurried  on  in  his  policy  of  estab- 
lishing the  College  Church  both  by  his  desire  to 
separate  the  students  from  the  New  Light  con- 
troversy in  Mr.  Noyes's  church,  where  they  were 
wont  to  attend,  and  by  an  appeal  to  him,  in 
1753,  of  Rector  Punderson,  the  priest  recently 
placed  in  charge  of  the  Church-of-England  mis- 
sion in  New  Haven.  The  rector  had  two  sons 
in  college,  and  he  asked  that  they  and  such  other 
collegians  as  were  Episcopalians  might  be  per- 
mitted to  attend  the  Church-of-England  services. 
President  Clap  refused  to  give  the  desired  per- 
mission, except  for  communion  and  some  special 
services,  and  he  at  once  proceeded  to  organize 
a  church  within  the  college.  The  trustees  and 
faculty  upheld  him,  but  the  Old  Lights,  then 


282    THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  RELIGIOUS 

about  two-thirds  of  the  deputies  to  the  Assem- 
bly, opposed  his  course  of  action,  and  succeeded 
in  taking  away  the  annual  grant  that,  at  the  in- 
corporation of  the  college,  had  been  given  to 
Yale.  After  this,  they  regarded  President  Clap 
as  a  "  political  New  Light,"  but  as  the  latter 
party  increased  in  the  Assembly,  and  became 
friendly  to  Yale,  the  college  gradually  reinstated 
itself  in  the  favor  of  the  legislature. 

If  in  his  petitions  the  Separatist  demanded 
only  exemption,  only  that  much  toleration,  in 
his  controversial  writings  he  ably  argued  the 
right  of  all  men  to  full  liberty  of  conscience. 
Unfortunately,  the  ignorance  and  follies  of  many 
of  the  Separatists,  when  battling  in  advance  of 
their  age  for  religious  liberty,  militated  against 
the  logic  of  their  position.  Harmony  among 
themselves  would  have  commended  and  strength- 
ened their  cause,  and  given  it  a  forceful  dignity. 
They  blundered,  as  did  their  English  predeces- 
sors of  a  much  earlier  date,  by  laying  too  much 
stress  upon  the  individual,  upon  his  interpreta- 
tions of  Scripture,  and  upon  his  right  of  criti- 
cism. Much  of  their  work  in  behalf  of  religious 
liberty  took  the  form  of  pamphleteering.  Again, 
it  was  their  misfortune  that  the  Establishment 
could  boast  of  writers  of  more  ability  and  of 
greater  training.    Yet  the  Separatists  had  some 


LIBERTY  IN  CONNECTICUT  283 

bold  thinkers,  some  able  advocates,  and,  as  time 
wore  on,  and  their  numbers  were  increased  and 
disciplined,  the  strength  and  quality  of  their  peti- 
tions and  published  writings  improved  greatly. 
Sometimes  these  dissenters  were  helped  by  the 
theories  of  their  opponents,  which,  when  pushed 
to  logical  conclusions  and  practical  application, 
often  became  strong  reasons  for  granting  the 
very  liberty  the  Separatists  sought.  Sometimes 
an  indignant  member  of  the  Establishment, 
smarting  under  its  interference,  was  roused  to 
forceful  expression  of  the  broader  notions  of 
personal  and  church  liberty  that  were  slowly 
spreading  through  the  community.  A  few  ex- 
tracts from  typical  pamphlets  of  the  time  will 
give  an  idea  of  the  atmosphere  surrounding  the 
disputants. 

In  1749,  a  tract  was  issued  from  the  New 
London  press  by  one  E.  H.  M.  A.  entitled, 
"  The  present  way  of  the  Country  in  maintain- 
ing the  Gospel  ministry  by  a  Public  Rate  or 
Tax  is  Lawful,  Equitable,  and  agreable  to  the 
Gospel ;  As  the  same  is  argued  and  proved  in 
way  of  Dialogue  between  John  Queristicus  and 
Thomas  Casuisticus,  near  Neighbors  in  the 
County."  In  answer  to  this,  and  for  the  purpose 
of  vindicating  the  religious  practices  and  opin- 
ions of  the  Separatists,  Ebenezer  Frothingham,  a 


284    THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  RELIGIOUS 

Separatist  minister,  took  the  field  in  1750  as  the 
champion  of  religious  liberty.  His  book  of  four 
hundred  and  fifty  pages  had  for  its  title  "The 
Articles  of  Faith  and  Practice  with  the  Cove- 
nant that  is  confessed  by  the  Separate  Churches 
of  Christ  in  this  land.  Also  a  discourse."  So 
influential  and  so  characteristic  was  this  work, 
that  rather  long  extracts  from  it  are  permis- 
sible, and,  with  a  few  arguments  from  other 
writers,  will  serve  to  reflect  the  thought  and  feel- 
ing of  the  day,  and  will  best  give  the  point  of 
view  of  both  dissenter  and  member  of  the  Estab- 
lishment, of  liberal  and  conservative  ;  for  the 
pamphlet  of  the  period  was  apt  to  be  religious 
or  political,  or  more  likely  both. 

Frothingham,  speaking  of  the  injustice  done 
the  Separatists,  writes  :  — 

That  religion  that  hath  not  authority  and  power 
enough  within  itself  to  influence  its  professors  to  sup- 
port the  same,  without  Bargains,  Taxes  or  Rates,  and 
the  Civil  Power,  and  Prisons,  &c.  is  a  false  Religion. 
.  •  .  Now,  if  the  Religion  generally  professed  and 
practiced  in  this  land,  be  the  Religion  of  Jesus 
Christ,  why  do  they  strain  away  the  Goods  of  the 
Professors  of  it,  and  waste  their  substance  to  support 
it  ?  which  has  frequently  been  done.  And  which  is 
worse,  why  do  they  take  their  Neighbors  (that  don't 
worship  with  them,  but  have  solemnly  covenanted  to 
worship  God  in  another  place)  by  the  throat,  and 


LIBERTY  IN  CONNECTICUT  285 

cast  them  into  Prison  ?  or  else  for  a  Rate  of  Twenty- 
Shillings,  Three  or  Six  Pounds,  send  away  Ten, 
Twenty,  or  Thirty  Pounds  worth  of  Goods,  and  set 
them  up  at  Vendue ;  where  they  will  generally  as- 
semble the  poor,  miserable  Drunkard,  and  the  awful 
foul-mouthed  Swearer,  and  the  bold,  covetous,  Blas- 
phemous Scoffer  at  things  Sacred  and  Divine,  and 
the  Scum  of  Society  for  the  most  part  will  be  to- 
gether, to  count  and  make  their  Games  about  the 
Goods  upon  Sale,  and  at  the  owners  of  them  too,  and 
at  the  Holy  Religion  that  the  Owners  thereof  pro- 
fess ;  and  at  such  Vendues  there  are  rarely  any  solid, 
thinking  men  to  be  found  there  ;  or  if  there  are  any 
such  present,  they  do  not  care  to  act  in  that  oppres- 
sive way  of  supporting  the  Gospel.  Such  men  find 
something  is  the  matter.  God's  Vice-regent  in  their 
Breasts,  tells  them  it  is  not  equal  to  make  such 
Havock  of  men's  Estates,  to  support  a  Worship  they 
have  nothing  to  do  with ;  yes,  the  Consciences  of 
these  persons  will  trouble  them  so  that  they  had 
rather  pay  twice  their  part  of  the  Rates,  and  so  let 
the  oppressed  Party  go  free. 

Upon  the  difficulty  of  securing  collectors, 
Frothingham  remarks  :  "  If  it  be  such  a  good 
Cause,  and  no  good  men  in  the  Society,  to  under- 
take that  good  Work,  surely  then  such  a  Society 
is  awfully  declined,  if  that  is  the  case."  Froth- 
ingham quotes  the  Suttler  of  the  "  Dialogue " 
as  saying,  "  We  have  good  reason  to  believe, 
that  if  this  Hedge  of  human  Laws,  and  Enclo- 


28G    THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  RELIGIOUS 

sure  of  Order  round  the  Church,  were  wholly 
broken  down,  and  taken  away,  there  would  not 
be,  ('tis  probable)  one  regular  visible  Church 
left  subsisting  iu  this  land,  fifty  years  hence,  or, 
at  most,  not  many."  To  this,  Frothingham  re- 
plied that  if  by  the  "  visible  church,  here  spoken 
of,"  is  meant  "  Anti-Christ's  Church,  we  should 
be  apt  to  believe  it,"  for  "  it  needs  Civil  Power, 
Rates  and  Prisons  to  support  it.  But  if  the 
Gospel  Church,  set  up  at  first  without  the  aid 
of  civil  power  could  continue  and  spread,  why 
can't  it  subsist  without  the  Civil  Power  now  as 
well  as  then  ?  "  "  To  this  day,"  this  author  adds, 
"  the  true  Church  of  Christ  is  in  bondage,  by 
usurping  Laws  that  unrighteously  intrude  upon 
her  ecclesiastical  Rights  and  civil  Enjoyments  ; 
.  .  .  And  Wo !  Wo !  to  New  England  !  for  the 
God-provoking  Evil,  which  is  too  much  indulged 
by  the  great  and  mighty  in  the  Land.  The  cry 
of  oppression  is  gone  up  into  the  ears  of  the 
Lord  God  of  Sabbaoth." 

Frothingham  thrusts  at  the  payment  or  sup- 
port of  the  ministry  by  taxation  in  his  assertion 
that  "  there  is  no  instance  of  Paul's  entering 
into  any  civil  Contract  or  Bargain,  to  get  his 
wages  or  Hire,  in  all  his  Epistles  ;  but  we  have 
frequent  accounts  of  his  receiving  free  contribu- 
tions." 136   (Here,  he  but  repeats  a  part  of  the 


LIBERTY  IN  CONNECTICUT  287 

Baptist  protest  in  the  Wightman-Bulkley  debate 
of  1707.)  Frothingham  states  that  "  the  scope 
and  burden  of  it  [his  book]  were  to  shew  .  .  . 
both  from  scripture  and  reason  that  the  stand- 
ing ministers  and  Churches  in  this  Colony  [Con- 
necticut] are  not  practising  in  the  rule  of  God's 
word." 

The  book  at  once  commanded  the  attention 
desired  by  its  author.  It  drew  upon  Froth- 
ingham the  concentrated  odium  of  the  Rev. 
Moses  Bartlett,  pastor  of  the  Portland  church,  in 
a  fifty-four-paged  pamphlet  entitled  "  False  and 
Seducing  Teachers."  Among  such  Bartlett  in- 
cludes and  roundly  denounces  Frothingham  and 
the  two  Paines,  Solomon  and  his  brother  Elisha. 
Elisha  Paine  had  removed  to  Long  Island.  Re- 
turning to  Canterbury  for  some  of  his  household 
goods,  he  was  seized  by  the  sheriff  for  rates  over- 
due, and  thrown  into  Windham  jail.137  After 
waiting  some  weeks  for  his  release,  he  sent  the 
following  bold  and  spicy  letter  to  the  Canterbury 
assessors  :  — 

To  you  gentlemen,  practioners  of  the  law  from 
your  prisoner  in  Windham  gaol,  because  his  con- 
science will  not  let  him  pay  a  minister  that  is  set  up 
by  the  laws  of  Connecticut,  contrary  to  his  conscience 
and  consent. 

The  Roman  Emperor  was  called  Pontif  ex  Maxi- 


288    THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  RELIGIOUS 

mus,  because  he  presided  over  civil  and  ecclesiastical 
affairs ;  which  is  the  first  beast  that  persecuted  the 
Christians  that  separated  from  the  Established  reli- 
gion, which  they  call  the  holy  religion  of  their  fore- 
fathers ;  and  by  their  law,  fined,  whipped,  imprisoned 
and  killed  such  as  refused  obedience  thereto.  We 
all  own  that  the  Pope  or  Papal  throne  is  the  second 
beast,  because  he  is  the  head  of  the  ecclesiastical,  and 
also  meddles  in  civil  affairs.  .  .  .  He  also  compels 
all  under  him  to  submit  to  his  worship,  decrees  and 
laws,  by  whips,  fines,  prisons,  fire  and  fagots.  Now 
what  your  prisoner  requests  of  you  is  a  clear  distinc- 
tion between  the  Ecclesiastical  Constitution  of  Con- 
necticut, by  which  I  am  now  held  in  prison,  and  the 
aforesaid  two  thrones  or  beasts  in  the  foundation,  con- 
stitution and  support  thereof.  For  if  by  Scripture  and 
reason  you  can  show  they  do  not  all  stand  on  the 
throne  mentioned  in  Psalm  xciv :  20,°  but  that  the 
latter  is  founded  on  the  Rock  Christ  Jesus,  I  will  con- 
fess my  fault  and  soon  clear  myself  of  the  prison. 
But  if  this  Constitution  hath  its  rise  from  that  throne 
.  .  .  better  is  it  to  die  for  Christ,  than  to  live  against 
him. 

From  an  old  friend  to  this  civil  constitution,  and 
long  your  prisoner.  Elisha  Paine. 

Windham  Jail,  Dec.  11, 1752. 

In  1744,  in  addition  to  his  memorials  and  let- 
ters, Solomon  Paine  had  published  "  A  Short 

a  "Shall  the  throne  of  iniquity  have  fellowship  with  thee, 
which  f raineth  mischief  by  law  ?  " 


LIBERTY  IN  CONNECTICUT  289 

View  of  the  Constitution  of  the  Church  of  Christ, 
and  the  Difference  between  it  and  the  Church 
Established  in  Connecticut."  Frothingham,  when 
alluding  to  Moses  Bartlett's  denunciation  of  him- 
self and  Paine,  refers  to  this  book  in  his  remark, 
"  Elder  Paine  and  myself  have  labored  to  prove, 
and  I  think  it  evident,  that  the  religious  Consti- 
tution of  this  Colony  is  not  founded  upon  the 
Scriptures  of  truth,  but  upon  men's  inventions." 
In  the  year  1755,  the  same  in  which  he  estab- 
lished the  college  church,  President  Clap  issued 
his  "  History  and  Vindication  of  the  doctrines 
received  and  established  in  the  Churches  of  New 
England,"  a  to  which  Thomas  Darling's  "  Some 
Remarks  on  President  Clap's  History  "  was  a 
scathing  rejoinder.  Darling  asserted  that  for  the 
President  to  uphold  the  Saybrook  System  of  Con- 
sociated  Churches  was  to  set  up  the  standards 
of  men,  a  thing  the  forefathers  never  did ; 138  that 
the  picture  of  the  Separatists'  "  New  Scheme," 
which  the  President  drew,  was  a  scandalous  spir- 
itual libel ; 139  and  then,  falling  into  the  per- 
sonal attacks  permitted  in  those  days,  Darling 
adds  that   President  Clap  was   an   overzealous 

a  The  "  History  "  is  brief,  and  the  "  Vindication  "  is  largely 
of  President  Clap's  own  reasons  for  establishing'  the  college 
church.  See  F.  B.  Dexter,  "  President  Clap  and  his  Writings," 
in  New  Haven  Hist.  Soc.  Papers,  vol.  v,  pp.  256-257. 


290    THE   DEVELOPMENT  OF   RELIGIOUS 

sycophant  of  the  General  Assembly,  a  servant  of 
politics  rather  than  of  religion,  and  that  it  would 
be  better  for  him  to  trust  to  the  real  virtues  of 
the  Consociated  Church  to  uphold  it  than  to 
strive  for  legal  props  and  legislative  favors  for 
his  "  ministry-factory,"  140  the  college.  To  raise 
the  cry  of  heresy,  Darling  declared,  was  the 
President's  political  powder,  and  "  The  Church, 
the  Church  is  in  danger  !  "  his  rallying  cry.  He 
concluded  his  arraignment  with  :  — 

But  would  a  man  be  tried,  judged  and  excommuni- 
cated by  such  a  standard  as  this  ?  No  !  Not  so  long 
as  they  had  one  atom  of  common  sense  left.  These 
things  will  never  go  down  in  a  free  State,  where 
people  are  bred  in,  and  breathe  the  free  air,  and  are 
formed  upon  principles  of  liberty  ;  they  might  answer 
in  a  popish  country,  or  in  Turkey,  where  the  common 
people  are  sunk  and  degraded  almost  to  the  state  of 
brutes.  .  .  .  But  in  a  free  state  they  will  be  eternally 
ridiculed  and  abhorred.  ...  'T  is  too  late  in  the  Day 
for  these  things,  these  gentlemen  should  have  lived 
twelve  or  thirteen  hundred  years  ago. 

Among  the  champions  of  religious  liberty  was 
the  Seventh-day  Baptist,  John  Bolles.  He  wrote 
"  To  worship  God  in  Spirit  and  in  Truth,  is  to 
worship  him  in  true  Liberty  of  Conscience,"  and 
also  "  Concerning  the  Christian  Sabbath,  which 
that  Sabbath  commanded  to  Israel,  after  they 


LIBERTY  IN  CONNECTICUT  291 

came  out  of  Egypt,  was  a  Sign  of.  Also  Some 
Remarks  upon  a  Book  written  by  Ebenezer 
Frothingham."  These  works  were  published  in 
1757,  and,  five  years  later,  called  out  in  defense 
of  the  Establishment  Robert  Ross's  "  Plain 
Address  to  the  Quakers,  Moravians,  Separates, 
Separatist-Baptists,  Rogerines,  and  other  Enthu- 
siasts on  immediate  impulses,  and  Revelation, 
&c,"  wherein  the  author  considers  all  those 
whom  he  addresses  as  on  a  level  with  Frothing- 
ham, whom  he  names  and  scores  for  "  tram- 
pling on  all  Churches  and  their  Determinasions, 
but  your  own,  with  the  greatest  disdain."  141 

In  the  same  year,  1762,  the  Separatist  Israel 
Holly  published  a  defense  of  his  opinions,  quot- 
ing freely  from  Dr.  Watts  and  from  his  own 
earlier  work,  "  A  Seasonable  Plea  for  Liberty 
of  Conscience,  and  the  Right  of  private  Judg- 
ment in  matters  of  Religion,  without  any  con- 
trol from  Human  Authority."  This  "  A  Word  in 
Zion's  Behalf  "  a  boldly  ranges  itself  with  Froth- 

a  "  Let  no  man,  orders  of  man,  Civil  or  Ecclesiastical  Ru- 
lers, majority,  or  any  whoever  pretend  they  have  a  right  to 
enjoyn  upon  me  what  I  shall  believe  and  practice  in  matters 
of  Religion,  and  I  bound  to  subject  to  their  Injunctions,  unless 
they  can  convince  me,  that  in  case  there  should  happen  to  be 
a  mistake,  that  they  will  suffer  the  consequences,  and  not  I  ; 
that  they  will  bear  the  wrath  of  God,  and  suffer  Damnation, 
in  my  room  and  stead.     But  if  they  can't  do  this,  don't  let 


292    THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  RELIGIOUS 

ingham  and  Bolles,  arguing  against,  and  em- 
phatically opposing,  the  state  control  of  religion. 
Holly  also  engaged  in  a  printed  controversy, 
publishing  in  connection  with  it  "  The  Power  of 
the  Congregational  Church  to  ordain  its  officers 
and  govern  itself." 

In  1767,  while  the  Separatists  still  outnum- 
bered the  Baptists  in  Connecticut,  Ebenezer 
Frothingham  put  forth  another  powerful  and 
closely  argued  tract,  "  A  Key  to  unlock  the 
Door,  that  leads  in,  to  take  a  fair  view  of  the 
Religious  Constitution  Established  by  Law  in 
the  Colony  of  Connecticut,"0  etc.  In  his  preface 
he  states :  — 

The  main  Thing  I  have  in  View  thro'  the  whole 
of  this  Book  is  free  Liberty  of  Conscience  .  .  .  the 

them  pretend  to  a  right  to  determine  for  me  what  religion  I 
shall  have.  For  if  I  must  stand  or  fall  for  myself,  then,  pray 
let  me  judge,  and  act  and  choose  (in  Matters  of  Religion)  for 
myself  now.  Yea,  when  I  view  these  things  in  the  Light  of 
the  Day  of  Judgment  approaching,  I  am  ready  to  cry  out 
Hands  off  !  Hands  off !  Let  none  pretend  a  right  to  my  sub- 
jection in  matters  of  Religion,  but  my  Judge  only  ;  or,  if  any 
do  require  it,  God  strengthen  me  to  refuse  to  grant  it."  A 
Word  in  Zion's  Behalf.  Quoted  by  E.  H.  Gillett  in  Hist. 
Magazine,  2d  series,  vol.  iv,  p.  10. 

a  A  Key  to  unlock  the  Door,  that  leads  in,  to  take  a  fair  view 
of  the  Religious  Constitution  Established  by  Law  in  the  Colony  of 
Connecticut;  With  a  Short  Observation  upon  the  Explanation 
of  the  Say-Brook-Plan  ;  and  Mr.  HobarVs  Attempt  to  establish 
the  same  Plan,  by  Ebenezer  Frothingham. 


LIBERTY  IN  CONNECTICUT  293 

Right  of  thinking  and  choosing  and  acting  for  one's 
self  in  matters  of  Religion,  which  respects  God  and 
Conscience  .  .  .  for  my  Readers  may  see  Liberty  of 
Conscience,  was  the  main  and  leading  Point  in  View 
in  planting  this  Land  and  Colony. 

Frothingham  defines  the  Religious  Constitu- 
tion as  "  certain  Laws  in  the  Colony  Law  Book, 
called  ecclesiastical,  with  the  Confession  of 
Faith,  agreed  upon  by  the  Elders  and  Messen- 
gers of  the  Churches,  met  at  Saybrook,  espe- 
cially the  Articles  of  Administration  of  Church 
Discipline."  This  Constitution  Plan  "  gives  the 
General  Assembly  (which  is,  and  always  should 
so  remain,  a  civil  body  to  transact  in  civil  and 
moral  things)  power  to  constitute  or  make  a 
spiritual  or  ecclesiastical  body." 142 

Such  power,  Frothingham  maintains,  is  con- 
trary to  reason.  Citing  from  the  Colony  Law 
Book  the  statute,  "  Concerning  who  shall  vote 
in  town  or  Society  meeting  "  Frothingham  com- 
ments thus :  — 

This  supposes  no  person  to  have  a  right  to  form 
themselves  into  a  religious  society  without  their  [the 
Assembly's]  leave.  No,  —  not  King  George  the  Third 
himself  would  have  liberty  to  worship  God  according 
to  his  conscience.  [Yet]  any  Atheist,  Deist,  Arian, 
Socinian,  a  Prophane  Drunkard,  a  Sorcerer,  a  Thief, 
if  they  have  such  a  freehold  (as  the  law  demands), 


294    THE   DEVELOPMENT   OF  RELIGIOUS 

can  vote  to  keep  out  a  minister.  [Such  a]  plan  chal- 
lenges the  sole  right  of  making  religious  societies  and 
the  government  of  conscience.  Yea,  I  think  it  as- 
sumes the  prerogative  that  belongs  to  the  Son  of  God 
alone. 148 

The  fines  for  the  neglect  of  the  established  wor- 
ship and  for  assembling  for  worship  approved  by 
conscience  [leave]  no  gap  for  one  breath  of  gospel 
liberty.  For  if  we  exercise  our  gifts  and  graces  in 
the  lawful  assemblies,  we  are  had  up,  and  carried 
to  prison,  for  making  disturbance  on  the  Sabbath. 
I  myself  have  been  confined  in  Hartford  prison  near 
five  months,  for  nothing  but  exhorting  and  warning 
the  people,  after  the  public  worship  was  done  and  the 
assembly  dismissed.  And  while  I  was  there  confined, 
three  more  persons  were  sent  to  prison  ;  one  for 
exhorting,  and  two  for  worshipping  God  in  a  private 
house  in  a  separate  meeting.  And  quick  after  I  was 
released,  by  the  laws  being  answered  by  natural  re- 
lations unbeknown  to  me,  then  two  brethren  more 
was  committed  for  exhorting  and  preaching,  and  sev- 
eral afterward,  for  attending  the  same  duties  and  I 
myself  was  twice  more  sent  to  prison  for  the  minis- 
ters rates.144 

I  have  no  Man  or  Men's  persons  as  such,  in  View 
in  my  Writings,  But  would  as  much  as  is  proper, 
separate  Ministers,  Civil  Rulers,  and  Churches,  from 
the  Constitution,  and  consider  this  Religious  Consti- 
tution as  it  is  compiled  or  written,  as  though  it  was 
not  established  in  this  Colony  ;  but  presented  here 
from  some  remote  part  of  Christendom,  for  Examina- 


LIBERTY  IN   CONNECTICUT  295 

tion,  to  see  if  it  was  according  to  the  Word  of  God, 
and  the  sacred  Right  of  Conscience.145 

In  scathing  terms,  Frothingham  attacks  the 
"  Anti-Christian "  character  of  the  Establish- 
ment and  its  fear  that,  by  granting  liberty  of 
conscience,  an  open  door  for  church  separation 
would  result,  and  thereby  its  speedy  downfall, 
because  of  the  multiplication  of  churches  and  the 
loss  of  taxes  enforced  for  its  support.  Experi- 
ence had  taught  the  authorities  that,  even  when 
all  the  people  favored  one  form  of  religion,  com- 
pulsory support  had  to  be  resorted  to  as  a  spur 
to  individual  contributious.  Moreover,  the  best 
governments  of  which  they  knew  had  recourse  to 
a  similar  system  in  order  to  maintain  purity  of 
religion  and  the  moral  welfare  of  the  state.  The 
authorities  could  not  see,  as  did  the  champion 
of  religious  liberty,  the  opportunities  of  oppres- 
sion that  such  a  system  afforded  ;  nor  could  they 
feel  with  him  the  harshness  of  its  taxation,  nor 
the  injustice  of  distraining  dissenters'  goods,  — 
or,  as  he  phrased  it,  "  their  lack  of  faith  in  God 
and  in  God's  people  to  uphold  religion."  They 
certainly  would  not  acknowledge  Frothingham's 
charge  that  they  seriously  feared  the  loss  of 
political  power  through  the  granting  of  soul  lib- 
erty, and  as  a  consequence  the  probable  disinte- 
gration of  the  Establishment. 


296    THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  RELIGIOUS 

Frothingham  argues  that  to  suffer  the  exist- 
ence of  different  sects  would  really  strengthen 
the  authority  of  the  colony;  since,  — 

when  persons  know  that  the  Most  High  is  alone  the 
absolute  Lord  of  Conscience  ;  that  no  mortal  breath- 
ing has  any  right  to  hinder  them  from  thinking  and 
acting  for  themselves,  in  religious  affairs  .  .  .  the  law 
of  nature,  reason  and  grace  will  lay  subjects  under 
strong  obligations  to  their  rulers,  when  equal  justice 
is  ministered  to  them  of  different  principles,  in  the 
practice  of  religion.146 

Frothingham  confutes  the  declaration  that  there 
was  liberty  of  conscience  in  the  colony,  "  for  the 
separates  have  gone  to  the  General  Assembly 
with  their  prayers,  from  year  to  year,  asking 
nothing  but  their  just  rights,  full  and  free  liberty 
of  conscience,  and  have  been,  and  still  are,  denied 
their  request." 

Furthermore,  the  colony  law  supported  crim- 
inals in  prison  and  gave  the  poor  man's  oath  to 
debtors,  but  nothing  to  the  man  who  was  in 
prison  for  conscience's  sake.  Such  a  one  was 
dependent  upon  the  charity  of  his  friends  for 
the  very  necessities  of  life.  Such  laws  and  the 
ecclesiastical  constitution  which  they  support 
become  — 

a  forfeiture  of  the  charter  grant  because  they  exer- 
cise that  oppression  and  persecution  contrary  to  its 


LIBERTY  IN  CONNECTICUT  297 

first  intent,  and  are  the  direct  cause  of  contention  and 
disunion,  which  is  repugnant  to  the  principal  design 
of  constituting  the  colony ;  viz.  that  it  "  May  be  so 
religiously,  peaceably  and  civilly  governed  as  may  win 
and  invite  the  natives  to  the  Christian  faith."  m 

This  "  Key  to  unlock  the  Door  "  was  probably 
the  strongest  work  put  forth  from  the  dissenter's 
standpoint,  and  within  three  years  it  was  fol- 
lowed by  a  legislative  act  granting  a  measure  of 
toleration.  But  there  were  other  important  books 
of  similar  character.  Two  among  these  were 
Eobert  Bragge's  "Church  Discipline,"0  re- 
printed in  1768,  and  Joseph  Brown's  (Baptist) 
"  Letter  to  the  Infant  Baptizers  of  North  Parish 
in  New  London."  Brown  closes  his  book  with  a 
mild  and  reasonable  appeal  to  every  one  to  try 

°  Robert  Bragge,  Church  Discipline,  London,  1738.  The  au- 
thor takes  for  his  text  1  Peter  ii,  45,  and  under  ten  heads  con- 
siders the  Congregational  church  as  the  true  Scriptural  church, 
its  rights,  privileges,  etc.  Under  topic  four,  "  The  Charter  of 
this  House,"  he  says  :  "  The  charter  of  this  house  exempts  all 
its  inhabitants  from  obeying  the  whole  ceremonial  law  :  .  .  . 
from  the  doctrines  of  men  in  matters  of  faith,  .  .  .  from  man's 
commands  in  the  worship  of  God.  Man  can  no  more  prescribe 
how  God  shall  be  worshipped,  under  the  new  testament  than 
he  could  under  the  old.  ...  He  alone  who  is  in  the  bosom  of 
the  Father  hath  declared  this.  To  worship  God  according  to 
the  will  and  pleasure  of  men  is,  in  a  sense  to  attempt  to  de- 
throne him :  for  it  is  not  only  to  place  man's  will  on  a  level 
with  God's,  but  above  it."  —  Church  Discipline,  p.  39. 


298    THE   DEVELOPMENT  OF  RELIGIOUS 

to  put  himself  in  the  place  of  the  oppressed  dis- 
senter." In  Brown's  argument,  as  in  that  of  the 
majority  of  the  dissenters,  the  plea  is  for  tolera- 
tion in  the  choice  of  the  form  of  religion  to  be  sup- 
ported, and  not  for  liberty  to  support  or  neglect 
religion  itself.  Those  who  believed  in  the  volun- 
tary support  of  religion  were  not  seeking  exemp- 
tion as  individuals,  but  as  organized  societies 
or  churches,  whose  highest  privilege  it  was  to 

a  "  Now  suffer  me  to  say  something  respecting  the  unrea- 
sonableness of  compelling  the  people  of  our  persuasion  to  hear 
or  support  the  minister  of  another.  Can  a  person  who  has  been 
redeemed,  be  so  ungrateful  as  to  hire  a  minister  to  preach  up  a 
doctrine  which  in  his  heart  he  believes  to  be  directly  contrary  to 
the  institutions  of  his  redeemer  ?  How  if  one  of  you  should  hap- 
pen to  be  in  the  company  with  a  number  of  Roman  Catholicks, 
who  should  tell  you  that  if  you  would  not  hire  a  minister  to 
preach  transubstantiation  and  the  worshipping  of  images  to  your 
children  and  to  an  unlearned  people,  they  would  cut  off  your 
head  ;  would  you  do  it  ?  Can  you  any  better  submit  to  hire  a 
minister  to  preach  up  a  doctrine  which  you  in  your  heart  be- 
lieve contrary  to  the  institution  of  Christ  ?  I  do  not  doubt  but 
that  many  of  you,  and  I  do  not  know  but  that  all  of  you  know 
what  it  is  to  experience  redeeming  love  ;  and  if  so,  now  can  you 
take  a  person  of  another  persuasion,  and  put  him  in  gaol  for  a 
trifling  sum,  destroy  his  estate  and  ruin  his  family  (as  you  sig- 
nify the  law  will  bear  you  out)  and  when  he  is  careful  to  sup- 
port the  religion  which  he  in  his  conscience  looks  upon  to 
be  right,  who  honestly  tells  you  it  is  wronging  his  conscience 
to  pay  your  minister,  and  that  he  may  not  do  so  though  he 
suffer  ?  ...  Is  it  not  shame  ?  Are  we  sharers  in  redemption, 
and  do  we  grudge  to  support  religion  ?  No  :  let  us  seek  for  the 
truth  of  the  gospel.  If  we  can't  think  alike,  let  us  not  be  cruel 
one  to  another." 


LIBERTY  IN  CONNECTICUT  299 

support  Christ's  teachings.  Considered  from  this 
point  of  view,  they  were  only  seeking  those  privi- 
leges which  had  been  granted  the  Episcopalians, 
the  Quakers,  and  Baptists  in  1727-29.  Looked 
at  from  the  point  of  view  of  the  government, 
however,  these  Separatists  varied  so  slightly  from 
the  legalized  polity  and  worship,  and  yet  withal 
so  dangerously,  that  they  did  not  deserve  to  be 
classed  as  "  sober  dissenters."  To  recognize 
them  as  such  would  be  to  set  the  seal  of  approval 
upon  all  who  chose  to  question  the  authority,  or 
the  righteousness,  of  the  Saybrook  system.  With 
the  fear  of  such  an  undermining  of  authority, 
and  realizing  the  increasing  tendency  of  churches 
throughout  the  colony  to  renounce  the  Saybrook 
Platform,  the  very  conservative  people  felt  that 
to  grant  toleration  to  the  Separatists  might  prove 
disastrous  both  to  Church  and  civil  order. 

While  the  Baptists  and  the  Separatists  were 
waging  the  battle  for  toleration  and  for  religious 
liberty  with  the  great  weapon  of  their  time,  — 
the  pamphlet,  —  the  Consociated  Churches  were 
also  making  valiant  use  of  it,  not  only  in  de- 
fense of  the  Establishment,  but  in  controversial 
warfare  among  themselves,  for  in  the  New  Eng- 
land of  the  second  half  of  the  eighteenth  cen- 
tury, two  schools  of  religious  thought  were  slowly 
developing.    They  gained  converts  more  rapidly 


300    THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  RELIGIOUS 

as  the  means  of  communication,  of  publication, 
and  of  exchange  of  opinion  increased.  The 
improvement  of  roads,  the  introduction  of  car- 
riages and  coaches,  the  establishment  of  print- 
ing-presses, and  the  founding  of  newspapers, 
were  important  agents  in  developing  and  mould- 
ing public  opinion.  Of  these,  the  printing-press 
was  foremost,  for  with  its  pamphlet  and  its 
newspaper  it  gained  a  hearing  not  only  in  the 
cities,  but  in  the  isolated  farmhouses  of  New  Eng- 
land, carrying  on  its  weekly  visit  the  gist  of  the 
secular  and  religious  news. 

The  newspaper  made  its  first  appearance  in 
Connecticut  in  1755,  when  the  "  Connecticut 
Gazette  "  a  issued  from  the  recently  established 
New  Haven  press.  The  newspaper  arrived  later 
in  the  distant  colony  of  Connecticut  than  in 
those  on  the  seaboard  that  were  in  closer  touch 
with  European  thought  by  reason  of  their  more 
direct    and    frequent    sailing    vessels.    Among 

a  Connecticut  Gazette  (New  Haven)  April  1755-Apr.  14, 
1764 ;  suspended ;  revived  July  5,  1765-Feb.  19,  176a  The 
New  London  Gazette,  founded  in  1703,  was  after  1768  known 
as  the  Connecticut  Gazette,  except  from  Dee.  10,  1773,  to 
May  11,  1787,  when  it  was  called  The  Connecticut  Gazette  and 
Universal  Intelligencer. 

Maryland  published  her  first  newspaper  in  1727,  Rhode 
Island  and  South  Carolina  in  1732,  Virginia  in  1736,  North 
Carolina  in  1755,  New  Hampshire  in  1756,  while  Georgia  fell 
into  line  in  1763. 


LIBERTY  IN  CONNECTICUT  301 

American  newspapers,  the  year  1704  saw  the 
birth  of  the  "  Boston  News  Letter  " ;  the  year 
1719,  of  the  "Boston  Gazette"  and  of  the 
"  American  Weekly  Mercury  "  of  Philadelphia. 
Boston  added  a  third  paper,  the  "  New  England 
Courant,"  in  1721,  while  New  York  issued  its 
first  sheet  in  1725.  Benjamin  Franklin  founded 
the  "  Pennsylvania  Gazette  "in  1729,  and,  in 
1741,  began  the  publication  of  the  "  General 
Magazine  and  Historical  Chronicle  for  all  the 
British  Plantations  in  America."  In  1743,  Bos- 
ton sent  out  the  "  American  Magazine  and 
Historical  Chronicle,"  containing,  along  with 
European  news,  not  only  lists  of  new  books  and 
excerpts  therefrom,  but  full  reprints  of  the  best 
essays  from  the  English  magazines.  New  York, 
in  1752,  issued  the  "  Independent  Reflector,"  a 
magazine  of  similar  character.  Thus,  through 
papers  and  magazines,  as  well  as  through  a  lim- 
ited importation  of  books,  and  through  personal 
correspondence,  the  life  of  Europe,  and  preemi- 
nently of  England,  was  brought  home  to  the 
colonists. 

In  the  religious  non-prelatical  world  of  Eng- 
land, the  Presbyterian  churches  were  undergoing 
a  transformation,  and  were,  by  1750,  prevailingly 
Arian.  The  English  Congregationalists  resisted 
Arianism,  but  they,  also,  felt  its  influence,  as 


302    THE   DEVELOPMENT  OF  RELIGIOUS 

well  as  that  of  Arminianism,  and  they  began  to 
attach  less  importance  to  creeds,  and  to  develop 
a  broader  tolerance  of  many  shades  of  religious 
belief.  New  England  sympathized  more  with  the 
Congregational  movement,  but,  as  interest  in 
both  was  awakened,  English  thought  came  to 
have  great  influence  in  the  religious  development 
of  New  England  during  the  next  half -century. 
Broadly  speaking  of  these  progressive  changes, 
Connecticut,  and  Connecticut-trained  men  in 
western  Massachusetts,  developed  the  so-called 
New  Divinity,  while  Massachusetts  clergy,  espe- 
cially those  of  her  eastern  section,  favored  that 
liberal  theology  which,  after  the  Revolutionary 
period,  gave  rise  to  the  Unitarian  conflict. 

The  older  religious  controversies  had  concerned 
themselves  with  church  polity,  or,  popularly  speak- 
ing, with  what  men  thought  concerning  their  re- 
lation to  God  through  his  church,  in  distinction 
from  doctrine,  or  what  men  felt  should  be  their 
attitude  towards  God  and  their  fellow-men.  Push- 
ing aside  polity  and  doctrine,  the  twentieth  cen- 
tury emphasizes  action,  or  man's  reflection  of  the 
life  of  Christ.  Doctrine  came  to  the  front  with 
Jonathan  Edwards.  In  his  opposition  to  the  Ar- 
minian  teaching  of  the  value  of  a  sincere  obedience 
to  God's  laws  and  "  the  efficacy  of  means  of 
grace,"  Jonathan  Edwards  asserted  the  Calvin- 


LIBERTY   IN   CONNECTICUT  303 

istic  idea  of  the  sovereignty  of  God,  and  main- 
tained that  justification  was  by  faith  alone ;  but 
his  idea  of  justification  held  within  it  the  duty 
of  personal  responsibility  in  loving  and  obeying 
God.  Edwards,  though  defining  love  as  general 
benevolence,  a  delight  in  God's  holiness,  and  the 
essence  of  all  true  virtue,  did  introduce,  as  fac- 
tors in  personal  religion,  the  will  and  the  emo- 
tions. These  characteristics  of  true,  personal 
religion,  as  his  mind,  influenced  by  the  Great 
Awakening,  conceived  and  elaborated  them,  he 
set  forth  in  his  "  Religious  Affections,"  pub- 
lished in  1746.  In  his  "  Qualifications  for  Full 
Communion,"  1749,  he  again  dwelt  upon  the 
same  theme ;  but  his  main  purpose  was  to  uproot 
the  Half- Way  Covenant  practice  and  the  Stod- 
dardean  view  of  the  Lord's  supper.  He  attempted 
to  do  this  by  exposing  the  inefficiency  of 
"  means,"  and  at  English  Arminianism  in  par- 
ticular Edwards  leveled  his  "  Freedom  of  the 
Will,"  a  published  in  1754.  His  friend  and  dis- 
ciple, Joseph  Bellamy,  put  forth  in  1750  "  True 
Religion  Delineated,"  wherein  he  advances  from 
Edwards's  limited  atonement  theory  to  that  of 
a  general  one.&    In  1758,  Bellamy,  in  brilliant 

a  Edwards's  Nature  of  True  Virtue,  written  about  1755,  was 
not  published  until  1765. 

b  This  book,  otherwise  essentially  Edwardean,  was  second 


304     THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  RELIGIOUS 

dialogue,  replied  to  "  A  Winter's  Evening  Con- 
versation Upon  the  Doctrine  of  Original  Sin  in 
which  the  Notion  of  our  having  sinned  in  Adam 
and  being  on  that  Account  only  liable  to  eternal 
Damnation,  is  proved  to  be  unscriptural,"  a  book 
by  Rev.  Samuel  Webster  of  Salisbury,  Massa- 
chusetts, and  of  which  a  reprint  had  appeared 
from  the  New  Haven  Press  in  1757,  the  year 
of  its  publication.  Bellamy  took  sides  with  the 
Rev.  Peter  Clark  of  Danvers,  Massachusetts, 
who  replied  in  "  A  Summer  Morning's  Conver- 
sation." Both  men  summoned  as  their  authority 
a  work  of  Edwards,  "  Original  Sin  Defended," 
which  was  about  to  appear  from  the  press,  and 
to  which  Edwards's  followers  were  looking  for- 
ward as  the  last  work  of  their  master,  he  having 
died  while  its  pages  were  still  in  press.  Edwards 
had  destined  the  book  to  be  a  refutation  of  Eng- 
lish Arianism  of  the  Taylor  school,  of  which 
Webster  was  a  follower.  This  same  year,  1758, 
Bellamy  discoursed  upon  "  The  Wisdom  of  God 
in  the  Permission  of  Sin,"  and  gave  a  series  of 
sermons  on  "  The  Divinity  of  Jesus  Christ,"  a 
defense  of  the  Trinity,  which  Jonathan  Mayhew 

only  to  Edwards's  Religious  Affections  in  popularity  and  in  its 
success  in  spreading  the  influence  of  this  school  of  theology, 
and  it  did  much,  in  Connecticut,  to  break  down  the  opposition 
to  the  New  Divinity.  Edwards  himself  approved  its  manu- 
script, and  in  his  writings  recommended  it  highly. 


LIBERTY  IN  CONNECTICUT  305 

of  Boston  had  attacked.  Bellamy  may  have  felt 
that  this  defense  was  due  from  a  Connecticut 
man  because  the  colony,  strenuously  orthodox, 
had  in  the  revision  of  the  laws  in  1750  added 
the  requirement  of  a  belief  in  the  Trinity,  and 
caused  the  denial  thereof  to  be  ranked  as  felony. 
Denial  of  the  Trinity,  or  of  the  divine  inspira- 
tion of  the  Scriptures,  was  punishable,  for  the 
first  offense,  by  ineligibility  to  office,  whether 
ecclesiastical,  civil,  or  military,  and,  upon  a  sec- 
ond conviction,  by  disability  to  sue,  to  act  as 
guardian  or  as  administrator.148  Though  there 
was  never  a  conviction  under  the  statute,  the 
presence  of  such  a  law  in  the  colony  code  indi- 
cates the  religious  temper  of  her  people  at  a  time 
when  radical  changes  were-  creeping  into  man's 
conception  of  religion. 

Joseph  Bellamy's  influence,  great  as  it  was  as 
writer  and  preacher,  was  even  greater  as  a  teacher. 
His  home  in  Bethlehem  from  1738  to  1790  was 
virtually  a  divinity  school,  and  it  is  estimated 
that  at  least  sixty  students,  trained  in  his  system 
of  theology  and  in  his  antagonism  to  the  Half- 
Way  Covenant,0  spread  through  New  England 

a  In  1769-70,  Bellamy  wrote  a  series  of  tracts  and  dia- 
logues against  this  practice.  They  were  very  effective  in 
causing  its  abandonment  by  those  conservative  churches  that 
had  so  long  clung  to  its  use. 


30G      THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  RELIGIOUS 

an  influence  counter  to  that  of  the  May  hews, 
Briant,0  Webster,  and  other  disciples  of  the 
Liberal  Theology.  Upon  Bellamy,  as  a  leader, 
fell  Edwards's  mantle. 

While  Bellamy  was  the  great  exponent  of 
Jonathan  Edwards's  teachings  in  Connecticut, 
another  friend  and  famous  pupil  of  the  great 
divine's,  Samuel  Hopkins,  taught  at  Great 
Barrington,  Massachusetts,  1743-69,  and  in 
Newport,  Rhode  Island,  1770-1803,  urging  an 
extension  of  his  master's  principles  —  especially 
of  that  of  "  benevolence."  Hopkins,  however, 
attributed  a  certain  value  to  "  means  of  grace," 
while    teaching  that  sin  and   virtue  consist   in 

«  Experience  Mayhew  in  his  Grace  Defended,  of  1744. 

Lemuel  Briant's  The  Absurdity  and  Blasphemy  of  Depreciat- 
ing Moral  Virtue,  1749.  This  was  replied  to  in  Massachusetts, 
by  Rev.  John  Porter  of  North  Bridgewater  in  The  Absurdity 
and  Blasphemy  of  Substituting  the  Personal  Righteousness  of 
Men,  etc. ;  also  by  a  sermon  of  Rev.  Thomas  Foxcrof  t,  Dr. 
Charles  Chauncy's  colleague  ;  and  by  Rev.  Samuel  Niles's 
Vindication  of  Divers  Important  Gosjiel  Doctrines. 

Jonathan  Mayhew,  son  of  Experience,  wrote  his  Sermons 
(pronouncedly  Arian)  in  1755,  and  in  1761  two  sermons.  Striv- 
ing to  Enter  at  the  Strait  Gate. 

Other  ministers  were  affected  by  these  unorthodox  views, 
notably  Ebenezer  Gay,  Daniel  Shute,  and  John  Rogers.  This 
Teligious  development  was  cut  short  by  the  early  death  of 
the  leaders  and  by  the  Revolutionary  contest.  Briant  died  in 
17-~>4.  Jonathan  Mayhew  in  1706,  and  his  father  in  175S.  —  See 
W.  Walker,  Hist,  of  the  Congregational  Churches  in  the  United 
States,  chap.  viii. 


LIBERTY  IN  CONNECTICUT  307 

exercise  of  the  will,  or  in  definite  acts.a  Conse- 
quently, he  included  in  his  theology  a  denial  of 
man's  responsibility  for  Adam's  sin,  which  Ed- 
wards had  maintained.  Hopkins  advocated  also 
a  willing  and  disinterested  submission  to  God's 
will,  the  Hopkinsian  "  to  be  saved  or  damned," 
since  God,  in  his  wisdom,  will  do  that  which  is 
best  for  his  universe.  These  characteristic  doc- 
trines, both  of  Bellamy  and  Hopkins,  were 
modified  by  the  younger  generation  of  students, 
notably  by  Stephen  West,  John  Smalley,  Jona- 
than Edwards,  Jr.,  and  —  greatest  of  all  — 
Nathaniel  Emmons,  who,  together  with  the  first 
Timothy  Dwight,  were  to  introduce  two  sub- 
schools  of  the  New  Divinity.6    Emmons,  folio  w- 

«  Hopkins  replied  in  1765  to  Jonathan  Mayhew's  sermons 
of  1761.  Mayhew  died  before  he  could  answer,  but  Moses 
Hemenway  of  Wells,  Maine,  and  also  Jedediah  Mills  of  Hunt- 
ington, Conn,  (a  New  Light  sympathizer),  answered  Hopkins's 
extreme  views  in  1767  in  An  Inquiry  concerning  the  State  of  the 
TJnregenerate  under  the  Gospel.  This  involved  Hopkins  in  fur- 
ther argumentation  in  1769,  and  drew  into  the  discussion  Wil- 
liam Hart  (Old  Light)  of  Saybrook,  and  also  Moses  Mather 
of  Darien,  Conn,  (also  Old  Light).  This  attack  upon  Hop- 
kins resulted  in  1773  in  his  greatest  work,  An  Inquiry  into  the 
Nature  of  True  Holiness.  The  whole  question  at  stake  between 
the  Old  Calvinists  and  the  followers  of  the  New  Divinity  was 
how  to  class  men,  morally  upright,  who  made  no  pretensions 
to  religious  experience. 

6  West,  in  his  Essay  on  Moral  Agency,  defended  Edwards's 
Freedom  of  the  Will  against  the  Rev.  James  Dana  of  New 
Haven  in  1772,  but  his  Scripture  Doctrine  of  Atonement,  pub- 


308    THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  RELIGIOUS 

ing  Hopkins,  developed  extreme  views  of  sin, 
even  in  little  children  ;  held  the  theories  of  re- 
probation and  election  ;  and  was  most  intensely 
Calvin  istic.  D wight  developed  a  more  concil- 
iatory and  benign  system  of  theology,  but  his 
influence,  as  founder  of  a  school  of  religious 
thought,  belongs  to  the  post-Revolutionary  era. 
Emmons  held  one  long  pastorate  at  Franklin, 
Massachusetts,  1773-1827,°  where,  as  a  trainer 
of  youth  for  the  ministry,  his  influence  was 
greatest,  and  his  powers  at  their  best.  Nearly  a 
hundred  ministers  passed  to  their  pulpits  from 
his  tutelage. 

Such  were  the  teachings  that  fashioned  a  gen- 
eration of  preachers,  of  ministers,  wielding  a  tre- 
mendous influence  over  the  men  and  measures  of 
pre-Revolutionary  and  Revolutionary  days.  The 
clergy  were  then  the  close  friends  of  their  parish- 
ioners ;  their  counselors  in  all  matters,  spiritual 
or  worldly  ;  and  frequently  their  arbitrators  in 

lished  in  1785,  was  his  best-known  work.  In  his  doctrinal 
views,  he  was  greatly  influenced  by  Hopkins.  Both  West  and 
Smalley  trained  students  for  the  ministry.  The  latter  was  the 
teacher  of  Nathaniel  Emmons.  Smalley  was  settled  in  what 
is  now  New  Britain,  Conn.,  from  1757-1820. 

a  Emmons  died  there,  in  1840,  at  the  age  of  ninety-five. 
Apart  from  his  influence  upon  the  development  of  doctrine, 
he  did  more  than  any  other  man  to  bring-  back  the  early  inde- 
pendence of  the  churches  and  to  create  the  Congregational 
polity  of  the  present  day. 


LIBERTY   IN  CONNECTICUT  309 

disputed  rights,  for  the  legal  class  was  still  small, 
and  its  services  costly.  The  pastor  knew  inti- 
mately every  soul  in  his  parish.  He  was  the 
State's  moral  guardian.  He  was  the  intellectual 
leader  and  more,  for,  in  the  scarcity  of  books 
and  newspapers,  not  alone  in  his  Sunday  ser- 
mon but  in  those  on  fast  days  and  thanksgivings, 
and  on  all  public  and  semi-public  occasions,  he 
talked  to  his  people  upon  current  events.  The 
story  is  told  of  a  clergyman  who  in  his  Sunday 
prayer  recounted  the  life  of  his  parish  during 
the  preceding  week,  making  personal  mention 
of  its  actors  ;  who  then  passed,  still  praying, 
from  local  history  to  the  welfare  of  the  nation, 
including  a  tribute  to  Washington  and  a  de- 
scription of  a  battle  ;  and  who  did  not  end  his 
hour-long  prayer  until  he  had  anathematized 
the  enemy,  and  circled  the  globe  for  recent  ex- 
amples of  divine  wrath  and  benevolence.  Such  a 
clergyman  is  by  no  means  a  myth.  Each  pastor 
made  his  own  contribution,  inconspicuous  or  no- 
table as  it  might  be,  to  the  broadening  of  thought, 
and  contributed  his  part  to  the  development 
among  his  people  of  ideas  of  personal  liberty, 
even  as  the  colonial  wars  were  developing  confi- 
dence in  the  ability  to  defend  that  liberty  should 
it  be  endangered.  A  voluntary  theocracy  may 
uphold  a  faith  which  teaches  that  only  a  very 


310    THE   DEVELOPMENT  OF  RELIGIOUS 

limited  number  are  of  the  "  elect,"  but,  under 
tlie  ordinary  conditions  of  life,  such  a  belief  is 
discouraging,  deadening,  and  as  men  threw  off 
this  idea  of  spiritual  bondage,  they  advanced  to 
a  larger  conception  of  personal  responsibility, 
dignity,  and  freedom.  Such  enlargement  of  ideas 
necessitated  a  mutual  tolerance  of  diverse  opin- 
ions. It  also  tended  to  create  revolt  against  in- 
fractions of  civil  liberty  or  violations  of  political 
justice.  The  colonists  were  not  so  badly  taxed 
—  as  colonial  policy  went  —  when  they  made 
their  stand  for  "  no  taxation  without  representa- 
tion," when  they  exhausted  their  resources  in  a 
long  war  because  of  acts  of  Parliament  that,  had 
they  submitted  to  them,  would  have  offered  a 
precedent  for  still  more  repressive  measures  and 
for  the  overthrow  of  the  Englishman's  right  to 
determine,  through  the  representatives  of  the 
people,  how  the  people's  money  should  be  spent. 
If  the  town-meeting,  the  sermon,  the  religious 
or  political  pamphlet,  and  the  newspaper  did 
each  its  part  in  developing  a  people,  there  was 
also  another  factor  that,  starting  as  part  of  a 
discussion  of  ecclesiastical  polity,  brought  before 
all  men  important  questions  of  civil,  political, 
and  personal  liberty,  and  of  constitutional  rights. 
However  unnecessary  the  severe  anguish  of  Jona- 
than Mayhew's  spirit,  due  to  his  exaggerated 


LIBERTY  IN  CONNECTICUT  311 

fear  of  the  American  episcopate,  he  did  but 
express  "  the  sincere  thought  of  a  multitude  of 
his  most  rational  contemporaries."  149  A  review 
of  events  will  show  some  reason  for  the  antago- 
nism and  horror  that  filled  New  England  when 
the  project  of  the  episcopate  was  revived.  After 
the  death  of  Queen  Anne  in  1714,  the  Crown  took 
no  interest  in  the  project  of  an  American  epis- 
copate until  Thomas  Sherlock  became  Bishop  of 
London  in  1748.  The  Connecticut  clergy  of  the 
Church  of  England,  together  with  others  of 
New  England  and  the  Middle  colonies,  had,  how- 
ever, never  ceased  their  efforts  to  secure  an 
American  bishop  ;  and  now,  in  Bishop  Sherlock, 
their  Metropolitan  in  London,  they  had  one 
who  firmly  believed  in  the  necessity  of  colonial 
bishops,  who  deliberately  refused  to  exercise  the 
traditional  powers  of  his  office,  or  to  obtain  a 
legal  renewal  of  them  (in  so  far  as  they  applied 
to  the  colonies),  because  he  had  determined  that 
by  such  a  policy  he  would  force  the  English 
government  to  appoint  one  —  or  preferably  sev- 
eral —  American  bishops.  He  defined  his  scheme 
for  the  episcopate  as  one  in  which  the  Bishop 
was :  (1)  to  have  no  coercive  power  over  the 
laity,  only  regulative  over  the  clergy  ;  (2)  to 
have  no  share  in  the  temporal  government ;  (3) 
to  be  of  no  expense  to  the  colonists  ;   (4)  and 


312    THE   DEVELOPMENT   OF  RELIGIOUS 

to  have  no  authority,  except  to  ordain  the  clergy, 
in  any  of  the  colonies  where  the  government  was 
in  the  hands  of  dissenters  from  the  Church  of 
England.  This  plan  was  essentially  the  same  as 
that  advocated  later  by  Bishops  Seeker  and  But- 
ler, and  by  succeeding  bishops  to  the  time  of  the 
Revolution.  Bishop  Sherlock  obtained  the  King's 
permission  to  submit  his  j)lan  to  the  English 
ministers  of  state.  So  great  was  the  dread  in- 
spired in  America  by  the  rumors  of  a  revival  of 
active  measures  for  a  colonial  episcopate,  that  a 
deputation,  sent  to  England  in  1749,  appointed 
a  committee  of  two  to  wait  upon  those  nearest 
to  the  King  and  to  advise  them  that  the  appoint- 
ment would  be  "  highly  Prejudicial  to  the  Inter- 
ests of  Several  of  the  Colonies."  150  This  com- 
mittee redoubled  its  energies  in  1750,  and  it  was 
due  to  its  watchfulness  as  well  as  to  the  clearer 
foresight  of  the  King's  ministers  that  Bishop 
Sherlock's  plan  was  frustrated.  The  chief  ad- 
visers of  the  government  objected  to  it  on  the 
ground  that  it  would  be  repugnant  to  the  dis- 
senting colonies,  to  the  dissenters  of  all  sorts  in 
England,  and  would  also  rouse  in  the  home-land 
party-differences  that  had  slumbered  since  the 
overthrow  of  the  Pretender  in  1745. 

Despite    the    English    opposition    to    Bishop 
Sherlock's  scheme,  its  discussion  in  England  and 


LIBERTY  IN  CONNECTICUT  313 

the  journey  of  the  bishop's  agent  through  the 
several  American  colonies  to  sound  their  senti- 
ment had  created  so  much  apprehension  that  the 
Society  for  the  Propagation  of  the  Gospel  en- 
joined its  missionaries,  in  1753,  "  that  they  take 
special  care  to  give  no  offence  to  the  civil  gov- 
ernment by  intermeddling  with  affairs  not  relat- 
ing to  their  calling  or  function."  Even  Bishop 
Seeker  of  Oxford,  a  strong  adherent  of  Bishop 
Sherlock,  saw  fit,  in  1754,  to  suppress  Dr.  John- 
son of  Stratford,  Connecticut,  bidding  his  en- 
thusiasm wait  until  a  more  propitious  season, 
and  advising  him,  and  the  rest  of  his  clergy,  to 
conciliate  the  dissenters.  Bishop  Sherlock,  him- 
self, in  1752,  withdrew  sufficiently  from  his  first 
position  to  assume  the  ecclesiastical  oversight  of 
the  colonies,  although  he  would  not  take  out  a 
commission  to  renew  that  which  had  expired  by 
the  death  of  Bishop  Gibson.  Meanwhile,  Sher- 
lock's demonstration  that  the  Bishop  of  London 
had  little  authority  in  law,  or  in  fact,  over  the 
American  colonies  created  two  parties.  One° 
held  that  the  colonies  were  a  part  of  the  Eng- 
lish nation  and  consequently  were  subject  to  the 

a  To  fortify  their  position,  this  party  cited  various  acts  of 
Parliament  and  the  Act  of  Union,  1707,  wherein  Scotland  is 
distinctly  released  from  subjection  to  the  Church  of  England, 
—  an  exemption,  they  maintained,  that  had  never  formally 
been  extended  to  the  colonies. 


314    THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  RELIGIOUS 

civil  and  religious  laws  existing  in  the  home 
country,  and  that  the  authority  of  the  Church 
of  England  extending  to  the  colonies  had  been 
reinforced  by  the  Gibson  patent  of  1727-28. 
The  other  party  maintained  that  the  colonists 
were  not  members  of  the  Church  of  England, 
nor  subject  to  its  rules.  They  quoted  the  Lord 
Chief  Justice,  who  declared  to  Governor  Duni- 
mer,  in  1725,  that  "  there  was  no  regular  estab- 
lishment of  any  national  or  provincial  church  in 
these  plantations  "  (of  New  England),  and  that 
Bishop  Gilman,  in  his  letter  of  May  24,  1735, 
to  Dr.  Colman  had  written,  "  My  opinion  has 
always  been  that  the  religious  state  of  New  Eng- 
land is  founded  on  an  equal  liberty  to  all  Pro- 
testants, none  of  which  can  claim  the  name  of  a 
national  establishment,  or  of  any  kind  of  supe- 
riority over  the  rest."  This  party  further  main- 
tained that  no  acts  of  Parliament,  passed  after 
the  founding  of  the  colonies,  were  binding  upon 
them,  unless  such  acts  were  specially  extended 
to  the  colonies.  Here  again  was  the  old  conten- 
tion that  had  appeared  in  the  earlier  controversy 
over  the  Connecticut  Intestacy  Act. 

An  American  controversy,  parallel  in  time 
with  the  attempt  to  establish  the  episcopate, 
roused  the  always  latent  New  England  hostil- 
ity to  the  Episcopal  church  as  one  contrary  to 


LIBERTY  IN  CONNECTICUT  315 

gospel  teaching.  This  controversy  of  1747-51  a 
broke  out  over  the  validity  of  Presbyterian  or- 
dination versus  Episcopal.  The  battle  surged 
about  the  contingent  questions  of  (1)  whether 
the  Church  of  England  extended  to  the  colonies  ; 
(2)  whether  it  was  prudent  for  the  long  estab- 
lished New  England  churches  to  go  over  to  the 
English  communion ;  and  (3)  whether  it  would 
be  lawful.  In  debating  the  last  two,  incidental 
matters  of  expense,  of  unwise  ecclesiastical  de- 
pendence, and  of  the  consequent  decay  of  prac- 
tical godliness  in  the  land,  were  discussed  by  the 
Rev.  Noah  Hobart  of  Stratford,  Conn.,  who  re- 
presented the  Consociated  churches,  while  Epis- 
copacy was  defended  by  Rev.  James  Wetmore  of 
Rye,  N.  Y.,  Dr.  Johnson  of  Stratford,  Conn., 
Rev.  John  Beach  of  Reading,  Conn.,  and  by  the 
Rev.  Henry  Caner  of  Boston. 

This  discussion  at  once  suggested  to  a  few 
far-sighted  men  that  the  bishops  recently  pro- 
posed, and  which  at  the  end  of  the  Seven  Years' 
War,  in  1763,  were  again  earnestly  advocated  by 
Bishop  Seeker  (who  had  become  Archbishop  of 
Canterbury)  should  not  acquire  any  powers  in 
addition  to  those  suggested  by  Bishop  Sherlock. 

a  On  January  30, 1750,  Jonathan  Mayhew  preached  a  force- 
ful sermon  upon  the  danger  of  being  "  unmercifully  priest- 
ridden." 


316     THE   DEVELOPMENT  OF  RELIGIOUS 

The  growing  fear  of  such  increased  authority 
flamed  out  again  in  the  May  hew  controversy  of 
1763-65,  when  all  the  inherited  Puritan  dislike 
to  the  Church  of  England  as  a  religious  body, 
and  all  the  terror  of  such  a  hierarchy,  as  a  part 
of  the  English  state,  hurled  itself  into  argument, 
and  threw  to  the  front  the  discussion  of  the 
American  episcopate  as  a  measure  of  English 
policy,  —  an  attempt  to  transplant  the  Church  as 
an  arm  of  the  State  ;  an  attempt  to  "  episcopize," 
to  proselyte  the  colonies,  and  eventually  to  over- 
turn the  New  England  ecclesiastical  and  civil  gov- 
ernments." "  It  was  known,"  wrote  John  Adams 
fifty  years  later,  "  that  neither  the  king  nor  min- 
istry nor  archbishop   could   appoint  bishops  in 

a  Rev.  East  Apthorpe,  S.  P.  G.  missionary  at  Cambridge, 
Mass.,  had  replied  to  a  newspaper  criticism  upon  the  policy  of 
the  Society  for  Propagating  the  Gospel  in  New  England,  in  his 
Considerations  on  the  Institutions  and  Conduct  of  the  Society  for 
the  Propagation  of  the  Gospel  in  Foreign  Parts.  Jonathan  May- 
hew  published  in  answer  his  Observations  on  the  Character  and 
Conduct  of  the  Society,  censuring  the  Society  not  only  for  in- 
truding itself  into  New  England,  but  for  being  the  champion 
of  the  proposed  episcopate,  which  he  denounced.  This  was  in 
1763.  For  two  years  the  controversy  raged.  There  were  four 
replies  to  Mayhew.  Two  were  unimportant,  a  third  presum- 
ably from  Rev.  Henry  Caner,  and  the  fourth,  Answer  to  the 
Observations,  an  anonymous  English  production,  really  by 
Archbishop  Seeker.  Mayhew  wrote  a  Defense,  and  Apthorpe 
summed  up  the  whole  controversy  in  his  Review. —  A.  L.  Cross, 
Anglican  Episcopate,  p.  145  et  seq. ;  footnote  1,  p.  147. 


LIBERTY  IN  CONNECTICUT  317 

America  without  Act  of  Parliament,  and  if  Par- 
liament could  tax  us,  it  could  establish  the 
Church  of  England  with  all  its  creeds,  articles, 
ceremonies,  and  prohibit  all  other  churches  as 
conventicles  and  schism-shops."  °  Therefore, 
when  England  declared  her  right  to  tax  the  col- 
onies, and  followed  it  by  Sugar  Act  and  Stamp 
Act,  the  political  situation  threw  a  lurid  light 
about  the  Chandler-Chauncy  controversy b  of 
1767-71  as  it  rehearsed  the  pros  and  cons  of 
the  proposed  episcopate.  The  New  England 
colonies  were  greatly  excited,  and  others  shared 
the  unrest,  for,  even  where  the  Church  of  Eng- 
land was  strongest,  the  laity  as  a  body  preferred 
the  greater  freedom  accorded  them  under  com- 
missaries as  sub-officers  of  the  Bishop  of  London. 
The  indifference  of  the  American  laity  as  a 
whole  to  the  project  of  the  episcopate;  the  im- 
potence of  the  English  bishop  to  attain  it, 
thwarted  as  he  was  by  the  threefold  opposition 
of    the  ministry,  the  colonial  agents,  and  the 

a  John  Adams's  Works,  x,  288. 

b  Dr.  Charles  Chauncy  attacked  the  S.  P.  G.  as  endeavor- 
ing to  increase  their  power,  not  to  proselytize  among  the 
Indians,  but  to  episcopize  the  colonists.  Dr.  Chandler,  of  Eliza- 
bethtown,  N.  J.,  replied  in  An  Appeal  to  the  Public.  Chauncy 
retorted  with  The  Appeal  Answered,  and  Chandler  with  The 
Appeal  Defended.  The  newspapers  of  1768-69  took  up  the 
controversy. 


318    THE   DEVELOPMENT  OF  RELIGIOUS 

great  body  of  English  dissenters,  did  not  lessen 
the  prevailing  suspicion  and  fear  among  the  col- 
onists, especially  among  those  of  New  England. 
They  felt  no  confidence  in  the  profession  a  that 
authority  purely  ecclesiastical  would  alone  be 
accorded  to  the  bishop,  or  that  American  church- 
men themselves  would  long  be  satisfied  with  a 
bishopric  so  shorn  of  power.  And  already,  on 
November  1,  1766,  the  Episcopalians  of  New 
York,  New  Jersey,  and  Connecticut  had  met  to- 
gether in  their  first  annual  convention  at  Eliza- 
bethtown.6  The  avowed  object  of  their  conference 
was  the  defense  of  the  liberties  of  the  Church  of 
England,  and  "  to  diffuse  union  and  harmony, 
and  to  keep  up  a  correspondence  throughout  the 
united  body  and  with  their  friends  abroad."  151 

It  was  a  time  of  drawing  together,  whether  of 
the  colonies  as  political  bodies,  or  of  their  people 
as  groups  of  individuals  affiliating  with  simi- 
lar groups  beyond  the  local  boundaries.  Upon 
November  5,  1766,  also  at  Elizabethtown,  the 

a  In  1767,  Dr.  Johnson  in  a  letter  to  Governor  Trumbull  as- 
sured him  that  "It  is  not  intended,  at  present,  to  send  any 
Bishops  into  the  American  Colonies,  .  .  .  and  should  it  be 
done  at  all,  you  may  be  assured  that  it  will  be  done  in  such 
manner  as  in  no  degree  to  prejudice,  nor  if  possible  even  give 
the  least  offense  to  any  denomination  of  Protestants." — E.  E. 
Beardsley,  Hist,  of  the  Epis.  Church  in  Conn.,  i,  265. 

b  There  were  nine  clergymen  from  Connecticut,  and  twenty- 
five  from  New  York  and  vicinity. 


LIBERTY  IN  CONNECTICUT  319 

Consociatecl  Churches  of  Connecticut  had  united 
with  the  Presbyterian  Synod  of  New  York  and 
Philadelphia  in  their  first  annual  convention, 
which  was  composed  of  Presbyterian  delegates  to 
the  Synod  and  of  representatives  from  the  Asso- 
ciations in  Connecticut.  While  the  general  object 
was  the  promotion  of  Christian  friendship  be- 
tween the  two  religious  bodies,  the  spread  of 
the  gospel,  and  the  preservation  of  the  liberties 
of  their  respective  churches,  the  conventions  of 
1769-75  determined  to  prosecute  measures  for 
preserving  these  same  liberties,  threatened  "  by 
the  attempt  made  by  the  friends  of  Episcopacy 
in  the  Colonies  and  Great  Britain,  for  the  estab- 
lishment of  Diocesan  Bishops  in  America." 152 
Accordingly  this  representative  body  at  once  en- 
tered into  correspondence  with  the  Committee  of 
Dissenters  in  England.  In  recalling  these  move- 
ments towards  combination,  one  remembers  that, 
among  the  dissenters,  the  Quakers  had  long  held 
to  their  system  of  Monthly,  Quarterly,  and  An- 
nual Meetings,  to  their  correspondence  with  the 
London  Annual  Meeting,  and  to  the  frequent 
interchange  of  traveling  preachers.  In  the  years 
1767-69,  the  scattered  Baptists  of  New  Eng- 
land had  united  in  the  Warren  (Rhode  Island) 
Association.  It  was  a  council  for  advice  only,  yet 
its  approval  lent  multiple  weight  to  the  influence 


320    THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  RELIGIOUS 

of  any  Baptist  preacher.  It  urged  the  collection 
of  all  authentic  reports  of  oppression  or  per- 
secution, and  a  firm,  united  resistance  on  the  part 
of  the  weaker  churches.0  The  founding  of  Brown 
University,  Rhode  Island,  as  a  Baptist  College 
in  1764,  gave  the  sect  prestige  by  marking  their 
approval  of  education  and  of  a  "  learned  min- 
istry." 

To  return  to  the  subject  of  the  episcopate, 
the  Chandler  controversy  had  been  precipitated 
by  Dr.  Johnson  of  Connecticut,  who,  at  the 
Elizabeth  convention,  urged  that  the  opposition 
to  the  American  bishops  was  largely  caused  by 
ignorance  concerning  their  proposed  powers  and 
office,  and  that  if  some  one  would  put  the  scheme 
more  fully  before  the  people,  they  might  be  won 
over.  The  task  was  assigned  to  Thomas  Brad- 
bury Chandler,  who  published  his  "  An  Appeal 
to  the  Public,"  1767.  Dr.  Charles  Chauncy  of 
Boston  replied  to  Chandler,  giving  the  New  Eng- 
land view  of  bishops  in  "The  Appeal  Answered." 
Chandler,  as  has  been  said,  retorted  with  his 
"The  Appeal  Defended,"  and  the  newspapers 
took  up  the  controversy.    The  discussion  turned 

a  The  Association  had  sent  petitions  in  hehalf  of  the  Bap- 
tists to  the  legislatures  of  Massachusetts  and  Connecticut. 
Both  were  refused.  For  its  Circular  Letter  of  1776,  see 
Hovey'a  Life  of  Backus,  p.  289 ;  also  p.  155. 


LIBERTY  IN  CONNECTICUT  321 

immediately  and  almost  entirely  from  the  eccle- 
siastical aspect,  with  its  dangers  to  New  England 
church-life,  to  the  political  and  constitutional 
phases  of  this  proposed  extension  of  the  Church 
of  England.  The  New  York  and  Philadelphia 
press  agitated  the  subject  in  1768-69,  while  all 
New  England  echoed  Mayhew's  earlier  denun- 
ciations of  the  evils  to  be  anticipated.  In  the 
pulpit,  by  the  study  fire,  and  at  the  tavern- 
bar,  leaders,  scholars,  people  discussed  the  pos- 
sible loss  of  civil  and  personal  liberty.  Let  the 
bishops  once  be  seated,  and  would  they  not  intro- 
duce ecclesiastical  courts,  demand  uniformity, 
and  impose  a  general  tax  for  their  church  which 
might  be  perverted  to  any  use  that  the  whim  of 
the  King  and  of  his  subservient  bishops  might 
propose?  There  is  no  question  that  this  sub- 
ject of  the  episcopate,  with  its  political  and  con- 
stitutional phases,  and  with  the  considerations  of 
personal  and  civil  liberty  involved,  did  much  to 
familiarize  the  people  with  those  principles  upon 
which  they  made  their  final  break  with  England, 
and  helped  to  prepare  their  minds  for  the  sepa- 
ration from  the  mother  country. 

In  considering  the  various  elements  that  con- 
tributed to  the  development  of  the  national 
spirit,  to  the  destruction  of  that  provincialism 
so  marked  hi  the  colonies  before  1750,  and  to 


322    THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  RELIGIOUS 

the  creation  in  each  of  breadth  of  thought  and 
clearness  of  vision,  trade  and  commerce  had 
their  part.  Because  of  them,  came  increasing 
knowledge  of  the  widely  different  habits  of  life 
in  the  thirteen  colonies.  It  came  also  from  the 
association  of  the  people  of  the  different  sections 
when  as  soldiers  of  their  King  they  were  sum- 
moned to  the  various  wars.  Still  another  impe- 
tus was  given  to  the  national  idea  by  the  fashion 
of  long,  elaborate  correspondence.  Especially 
was  this  true  after  the  Albany  convention  of 
1754,  called  to  discuss  Franklin's  Plan  of  Union, 
had  introduced  men  of  like  minds,  abilities,  and 
purpose,  and  also  the  needs  of  their  respective 
sections,  and  had  interested  them  in  the  common 
welfare  of  all.  Moreover,  Franklin  was  the 
highest  representative  of  still  another  move- 
ment that  roused  the  slumbering  intelligence  of 
men  by  opening  their  minds  to  impressions  from 
the  vast  and  unexplored  world  of  natural  science. 
He  founded,  in  1743,  the  University  of  Penn- 
sylvania and  the  American  Philosophical  Society. 
The  recognition,  in  1753,°  of  his  work  by  Euro- 

a  This  year  the  Royal  Society  awarded  him  the  Copley 
medal  for  his  discovery  that  lightning  was  a  discharge  of 
electricity. 

In  170 1  the  medal  of  the  Royal  Society  was  also  awarded 
to  the  Rev.  Jared  Eliot  of  Killingworth,  Conn.,  for  making 
iron  aud  steel  from  black  ferruginous  sand. 


LIBERTY  IN  CONNECTICUT  323 

pean  scholars  was  an  honor  in  which  every  Amer- 
ican took  pride  as  marking  the  entrance  of  the 
colonies  into  the  world  of  scientific  investigation. 
Such  honorable  recognition  produced  a  wide- 
spread interest  in  the  study  of  the  physical  world 
and  its  forces.  Following  this  awakening  and 
broadening  of  the  intellectual  life,  there  came, 
at  the  very  dawn  of  the  Re  volution,  the  first  out- 
cropping of  genuine  American  literature  in  the 
satires  and  poems  of  Philip  Freneau  of  New 
York,  a  graduate  of  Princeton,  and  in  those  of 
John  Trumbull  and  Joel  Barlow  a  of  Yale.  New 
Haven  became  a  centre  of  literary  life,  and  the 
cultivation  of  literature  took  its  place  beside  that 
of  the  classics,  broadening  the  preeminently 
ministerial  groove  of  the  Yale  curriculum. 

In  considering  some  of  the  individual  acts  lead- 
ing up  to  Connecticut's  part  in  the  Revolution, 
we  find  that  the  colony  had  disapproved  Frank- 
lin's Plan  of  Union  of  1754.  She  thought  it 
lacking  in  efficiency  and  in  dispatch  in  emergen- 

°  John  Trumbull,  b.  1750,  d.  in  Michigan,  1831 ;  Joel  Bar- 
low, b.  1754,  d.  in  Poland,  1812  ;  Gen.  David  Humphreys,  b. 
1752,  d.  in  New  Haven,  1818.  These  Yale  men,  together  with 
Dr.  Lemuel  Hopkins,  were  the  leading  spirits  in  the  club 
known  as  "The  Hartford  Wits."  Dr.  Dwight  was  a  fellow 
collegian  with  them.  Trumbull  and  Dwight  did  much  to  in- 
terest the  students  in  literature.  The  latter  was  also  tutor  in 
rhetoric  and  professor  of  belles-lettres  and  oratory. 


324    THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  RELIGIOUS 

eies,  and  possibly  dangerous  to  the  liberties  of 
the  colonies.  She  also  believed  it  liable  to  plunge 
the  colonies  into  heavy  expense,  when  many  of 
them  were  already  floundering  in  debt.  Yet  Con- 
necticut had,  with  Massachusetts,  willingly  borne 
the  brunt  of  expense  and  loss  necessary  to  protect 
the  colonies  in  the  wars  arising  from  French  and 
English  claims.  She,  accordingly,  greatly  rejoiced 
at  the  Peace  of  Kyswick,  1763,  for  it  gave  se- 
curity to  her  borders  by  the  cession  of  Canada  to 
England,  brought  safety  to  commerce  and  the 
fisheries,  and  promised  a  new  era  of  prosperity. 
The  attempt  of  England  to  recoup  herself  for 
the  expenses  of  the  war  by  a  rigid  enforcement 
of  the  Navigation  Laws  —  an  enforcement  that 
paralyzed  commerce,  and  turned  the  open  evasion 
of  honorable  merchantmen  into  the  treasonable 
acts  of  smugglers  —  grieved  Connecticut ;  the 
Sugar  Act  provoked  her,  and  the  proposed  Stamp 
Act  drove  her  to  remonstrance.  Her  magis- 
trates issued  the  dignified  and  spirited  address, 
"  Reasons  why  the  British  Colonies  in  America 
should  not  be  charged  with  Internal  Taxes  by 
Authority  of  Parliament."  °  It  was  firmly  be- 
lieved in  the  colony  that  when  the  severity  of 

a  Conn.  Col.  Rec.  xii,  Appendix.  This  was  drawn  up  by  the 
Governor  and  three  members  of  the  General  Assembly,  May, 
1764. 


LIBERTY  IN   CONNECTICUT  325 

the  English  acts  should  be  demonstrated,  they 
would  at  once  be  removed  and  some  substitute, 
such  as  the  proposed  tax  on  slaves  or  on  the  fur 
trade,  would  be  adopted.  Jared  Ingersoll,  the 
future  stamp-officer,  carried  the  address  to  Eng- 
land. There  it  received  praise  as  an  able  and 
temperate  state-paper.  Ingersoll  is  credited  with 
having  succeeded  in  slightly  modifying  the  Stamp 
Act  and  in  postponing  somewhat  the  date  for  its 
going  into  effect.  Having  done  what  he  could 
to  modify  the  measure,  and  not  appreciating  the 
growth  of  opposition  to  it  during  his  absence,  he 
accepted  the  office  of  Stamp-Distributer,  and  re- 
turned to  America,  where  he  was  straightway 
undeceived  as  to  the  desirability  of  his  office,  but 
made  his  way  from  Boston  to  Connecticut,  hoping 
for  better  things.  On  reaching  New  Haven,  he 
was  remonstrated  with  for  accepting  his  office  and 
urged  to  give  it  up.  But  learning  that  Governor 
Fitch,  after  mature  deliberation,  had  resolved  to 
take  the  oath  to  support  the  Stamp  Act,  and  had 
done  so,  though  seven  of  his  eleven  Councilors, 
summoned  for  the  ceremony,  had  refused  to  wit- 
ness the  oath,  Ingersoll  decided  to  push  on  to 
Hartford.  Starting  alone  and  on  horseback,  he 
rode  unmolested  through  the  woods  ;  but  as  he 
journeyed  through  the  villages,  group  after  group 
of  stern-looking  men,  bearing   in   their  hands 


326    THE   DEVELOPMENT  OF  RELIGIOUS 

sticks  peeled  bare  of  bark  so  as  to  resemble  the 
staves  carried  by  constables,  silently  joined  him, 
and,  later,  soldiers  and  a  troop  of  horse.  Thus 
he  was  escorted  into  Wethersfleld,  where,  vir- 
tually a  prisoner,  he  was  made  to  resign  his 
commission.  The  cavalcade,  ever  increasing,  pro- 
ceeded with  him  to  Hartford,a  where  he  publicly 
proclaimed  his  resignation  and  signed  a  paper  to 
that  effect.  Everywhere  the  towns  burned  him 
in  effigy.  Everywhere  the  spirit  of  indignation 
and  of  opposition  spread.  The  "  Norwich 
Packet "  discussed  the  favored  East  Indian  mo- 
nopolies and  the  Declaratory  and  Revenue  Acts 
of  Parliament.  The  "  Connecticut  Courant  " 
(founded  in  Hartford  in  1764),  the  "  Connect- 
icut Gazette,"  the  "  Connecticut  Journal  and 
New  Haven  Post-Bo}V  b  and  the  "  New  London 
Gazette  "  encouraged  the  spirit  of  resistance. 
A  Norwich  minister 153  preached  from  the  text 
"  Touch  not  mine  anointed,"  referring  to  the 
people  as  the  "  anointed "  and  arguing  that 
kings,  through  Acts  of  Parliament  which  take 
away,  infringe,  or  violate  civil  rights,  touch  the 
"anointed"  people  in  a  way  forbidden  by  God. 

a  With  grim  humor,  he  turned  to  one  of  his  escort,  saying 
that  he  at  last  realized  the  description  in  Revelation  of  "  Death 
riding  a  white  horse  and  hell  following-  behind." 

b  The  latter  half  of  the  title  was  omitted  about  1775. 


LIBERTY   IN  CONNECTICUT  327 

This  Norwich  minister  was  not  alone  among  the 
clergy,  for  the  sermons  of  the  three  sects,  Bap- 
tist, Separatist,  and  Congregational,  "  connected 
with  one  indissoluble  bond  the  principles  of  civil 
Government  and  the  principles  of  Christianity." 
The  laity  of  the  Episcopal  church  were,  as  a  body, 
patriots,  and  so,  also,  were  many  of  their  clergy  ; 
but  party  spirit,  roused  by  the  discussion  of  the 
episcopate  and  of  their  relation  to  the  King,  as 
head  of  their  church  as  well  as  head  of  the  State, 
tended  to  Toryism.  From  their  pulpits  was  more 
frequently  heard  the  doctrine  of  passive  obedi- 
ence. But  in  all  the  opposition  to  the  Stamp  Act, 
in  all  the  preparations  for  resistance,  in  the  carry- 
ing out  of  non-importation  agreements,  in  the 
movement  that  created  small  factories  and  home 
industries  to  supply  the  lack  of  English  imports, 
and  later  during  the  struggle  for  independence, 
the  Connecticut  colonists,  whether  Congregation- 
alists,  patriotic  Episcopalians,  Baptists,  or  Sepa- 
ratists, worked  as  one. 

Toward  the  Separatists,  oppressed  dissenters 
yet  loyal  patriots,  there  began  to  be  the  feeling 
that  some  legislative  favor  should  be  shown.  Ac- 
cordingly the  Assembly,  having  them  in  mind, 
in  1770  passed  the  law  that  — 

no  person  in  this  Colony,  professing  the  Christian 
protestant  religion,  who  soberly  and  conscientiously 


328    THE   DEVELOPMENT  OF  RELIGIOUS 

dissent  from  the  worship  and  ministry  established  or 
approved  by  the  laws  of  this  Colony  and  attend  pub- 
lic worship  by  themselves,  shall  incur  any  of  the  pen- 
alties .  .  .  for  not  attending  the  worship  and  ministry 
so  established  on  the  Lord's  day  or  on  account  of  their 
meeting  together  by  themselves  on  said  day  for  the 
public  worship  of  God  in  a  way  agreeable  to  their 
consciences. 

And  in  October  of  the  same  year,  it  was  fur- 
ther decreed  that  — 

all  ministers  of  the  gospel  that  now  are  or  hereafter 
shall  be  settled  in  this  Colony,  during  their  continu- 
ance in  the  ministry,  shall  have  all  their  estates 
lying  in  the  same  society  as  well  as  in  the  same  town 
wherein  they  dwell  exempted  out  of  the  lists  of  polls 
and  rateable  estates.164 

But  for  the  Separatists  to  obtain  exemption 
from  ecclesiastical  taxes  for  the  benefit  of  the 
Establishment  required  seven  more  years  of  argu- 
ment and  appeal.  During  the  time,  they  and 
the  Baptists  continued  to  increase  in  favor.  The 
Separatist,  Isaac  Holly,  preached  and  printed 
a  sermon  upholding  the  Boston  tea-party.  The 
Baptists  were  so  patriotic  as  to  later  win  from 
Washington  his  "  I  recollect  with  satisfaction 
that  the  religious  society  of  which  you  are  mem- 
bers have  been  throughout  America  uniformly 
and  almost  unanimously  the  firm  friends  of  civil 


LIBERTY  IN  CONNECTICUT  329 

liberty,  and  the  persevering  promoters  of  our 
glorious  revolution."  155  In  1774,  good-will  was 
shown  to  the  Suffield  Baptists  by  a  favorable 
answer  to  their  memorial  to  be  relieved  from 
illegal  fines.  In  behalf  of  these  Baptists,  Gov- 
ernor Trumbull  frequently  exerted  his  influence. 
He  also  wrote  to  those  of  New  Roxbury,  who  were 
in  distress  as  to  whether  they  had  complied  with 
the  law,  assuring  them  that  the  act  of  1770  had 
done  away  with  the  older  requirement  of  a  special 
application  to  the  General  Assembly  for  permis- 
sion to  unite  in  church  estate.156  Notwithstanding 
such  favor,  there  was  still  so  much  injustice  that 
the  Baptists  of  Stamford  wrote,  during  the  rapid 
increase  of  the  sect  through  the  local  revivals  of 
1771-74,  that  the  emigration  from  Connecticut 
of  Baptists  was  because  "  the  maxims  of  the 
land  do  not  well  suit  the  genius  of  our  Order, 
and  beside,  the  country  is  so  fully  settled,  as  pop- 
ulation increases,  the  surplusage  must  go  abroad 
for  settlements." 

Among  the  Baptists,  the  most  vigorous  cham- 
pion for  mutual  toleration  and  for  liberty  of 
conscience  was  Isaac  Backus,  "  the  father  of 
American  Baptists,"  and  their  first  historian.  In 
An  Appeal  to  the  Public  for  Heligious  Liberty, 
Boston,  1773,  after  calling  attention  to  the  lack 
of  state  provision  in  Massachusetts  as  well  as  in 


330    THE   DEVELOPMENT   OF  RELIGIOUS 

Connecticut  for  ecclesiastical  prisoners,157  he 
thus  defines  the  limits  of  spiritual  and  temporal 
power :  — 

And  it  appears  to  us  that  the  true  difference  and 
exact  limits  between  ecclesiastical  and  civil  govern- 
ment is  this.  That  the  church  is  armed  with  light 
and  truth,  to  pull  down  the  strongholds  of  iniquity 
and  to  gain  souls  to  Christ  and  into  his  church  to  be 
governed  by  his  rules  therein ;  and  again  to  exclude 
such  from  their  communion  who  will  not  be  so  gov- 
erned ;  while  the  state  is  armed  with  the  sword  to 
guard  the  peace  and  to  punish  those  who  violate  the 
same.  Where  they  have  been  confounded  together 
no  tongue  nor  pen  can  fully  describe  the  mischiefs 
that  have  ensued.158 

He  proceeds  to  argue  that  every  one  has  an 
equal  right  to  choose  his  religion,  since  each  one 
must  answer  at  God's  judgment  seat  for  his  own 
choice  and  his  life's  acts.  Consequently,  there 
is  no  warrant  for  the  making  of  religious  laws 
and  the  laying  of  ecclesiastical  taxes.  With  this 
premise,  it  followed  that  the  Baptist  exemption 
act  of  1729  was  defective  and  unjust,  in  that  it 
demanded  certificates ;  and  from  this  time  there 
began  a  steadily  increasing  opposition  to  the 
giving  of  these  papers.  Backus  objected  to  the 
certificates  upon  several  grounds,  chief  of  which 
were :  — 


LIBERTY  IN  CONNECTICUT  331 

(1)  Because  the  very  nature  of  such  a  practice  im- 
plies an  acknowledgement  that  the  civil  power  has 
right  to  set  one  religious  sect  up  above  another.  .  .  , 
It  is  a  tacit  allowance  that  they  have  the  right  to  make 
laws  about  such  things  which  we  believe  in  our  own 
conscience  they  have  not. 

(2)  The  scheme  we  oppose  tends  to  destroy  the 
purity  and  life  of  religion. 

(3)  The  custom  which  they  want  us  to  countenance 
is  very  hurtful  to  civil  society.  .  .  .  What  a  temptation 
then  does  it  not  lay  for  men  to  contract  guilt  when 
temporal  advantages  are  annexed  to  one  persuasion 
and  disadvantages  laid  upon  another?  i.  e.,  in  plain 
terms,  how  does  it  tend  to  lying  hypocrisy  and 
lying  ? 159 

In  all  his  writings  this  man  pleads  the  cause 
of  religious  liberty,  and,  whenever  possible,  he 
emphasizes  the  likeness  of  the  struggle  of  the 
dissenters  for  freedom  of  conscience  to  that  of 
the  colonists  for  civil  liberty,  and  argues  the  in- 
justice of  wresting  thousands  of  dollars  from  the 
Baptists  for  the  support  of  a  religion  to  them 
distasteful,  while  they  exert  themselves  to  the 
utmost  to  win  political  freedom  for  all ;  "  with 
what  heart  can  we  support  the  struggle  ?  " 

Two  remarkable  little  books  of  some  eighty 
or  ninety  pages  that  were  issued  from  the  Boston 
press  in  1772  require  a  word  of  notice  because 
of  their  hearty  welcome.  Two  editions  were  called 


332    THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  RELIGIOUS 

for  within  the  year,  and  more  than  a  thousand 
copies  of  the  second  were  bespoken  before  it  went 
to  press.  They  had  originally  been  put  forth,  the 
first  in  1707,  "The  Churches  Quarrel  Espoused : 
or  a  Reply  In  Satyre  to  certain  Proposals  made, 
etc."  (the  Massachusetts  "Proposals  of  1705  "), 
and  the  second  in  1717,  "A  Vindication  of  the 
Government  of  the  New  England  Churches, 
Drawn  from  Antiquity ;  Light  of  Nature  ;  Holy 
Scripture  ;  the  Noble  Nature ;  and  from  the  Dig- 
nity Divine  Providence  has  put  upon  it."  In  1772 
their  author,  the  Rev.  John  Wise,  a  former 
pastor  of  the  church  in  Ipswich,  Massachusetts, 
had  been  dead  for  over  forty  years.  In  his  day, 
he  had  regarded  the  "  Proposals  "  as  treasonable 
to  the  ancient  polity  of  Congregationalism,  and 
had  attacked  what  he  considered  their  assump- 
tions, absurdities,  and  inherent  tyranny.  His 
books  were  forceful  in  their  own  day,  serving  the 
churches,  persuading  those  of  Massachusetts  to 
hold  to  the  more  democratic  system  of  the  Cam- 
bridge Platform,  and  largely  affecting  the  char- 
acter of  the  later  polity  of  the  New  England 
churches.  The  suffering  colonist  of  1772,  smart- 
ing under  English  misrule,  turned  to  the  vigor- 
ous, clear,  and  convincing  pages  wherein  John 
Wise  set  forth  the  natural  rights  of  men,  the 
quality  of  political  obligation,  the  relative  merits 


LIBERTY   IN   CONNECTICUT  333 

of  government,  whether  monarchies,  aristocracies, 
or  democracies,  and  the  well  developed  concept 
that  civil  government  should  be  founded  upon  a 
belief  in  human  equality.  In  his  second  attempt 
to  defend  the  Cambridge  Platform,  Wise  had 
advanced  to  the  proposition  that  "  Democracy  is 
Christ's  government  in  Church  and  State."  160 

Such  expositions  as  these,  and  those  in  Isaac 
Backus's  "  The  Exact  Limits  between  Civil  and 
Ecclesiastical  Government,"  published  in  1777, 
and  in  his  "  Government  and  Liberty  described," 
of  1778,  together  with  the  discussion  prevalent 
at  the  time,  and  with  the  logic  of  the  Revolution- 
ary events,  opened  the  mind  of  the  people  to  a 
clearer  conception  of  liberty  of  conscience,  though 
their  practical  application  of  the  notion  was  de- 
ferred. For  many  years  longer,  persons  had  to 
be  content  with  a  toleration  that  was  of  itself  a 
contradiction  to  religious  liberty.  Yet  in  May, 
1777,  such  toleration  was  broadened  by  the  "Act 
for  exempting  those  Persons  in  this  State,  com- 
monly styled  Separates  from  Taxes  for  the  Sup- 
port of  the  established  Ministry  and  building  and 
repairing  Meeting  Houses,"  on  condition  that 
they  should  annually  lodge  with  the  clerk  of  the 
Established  Society,  wherein  they  lived,  a  certifi- 
cate, vouching  for  their  attendance  upon  and  sup- 
port of  their  own  form  of  worship.  Said  certificate 


334    THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  RELIGIOUS 

was  to  be  signed  by  the  minister,  elder,  or  deacon 
of  the  church  which  "  they  ordinarily  did  at- 
tend." 161 

Israel  Holly's  "  An  Appeal  to  the  Impartial, 
or  the  Censured  Memorial  made  Public,  that  it 
may  speak  for  itself.  To  which  is  added  a  few 
Brief  Remarks  upon  a  Late  Act  of  the  General 
Assembly  of  the  State  of  Connecticut,  entitled 
an  '  Act  for  Exempting  those  Persons  in  this 
State  Commonly  styled  Separates,  from  Taxes  for 
the  Support  of  the  Established  Ministry  &c.'  " 
gave  in  full  an  "  Appeal "  of  eleven  Separatist 
churches  to  the  General  Assembly  in  May,  1770. 
That  body  would  not  suffer  the  petition  to  be 
read  through,  stopping  the  reader  in  the  midst, 
while  some  of  its  members  went  so  far  as  to  de- 
clare that  "  all,  who  had  signed  it,  ought  to  be 
sent  for  to  make  answer  to  the  Court  for  their 
action."  But  the  majority  of  the  legislature  were 
not  so  intolerant,  so  that  during  the  session  the 
act  above  mentioned  was  passed.  Holly,  in  his 
book,  includes  with  the  "  Appeal "  a  severe  criti- 
cism of  the  new  law,  and,  in  quoting  the  petition, 
he  gives  a  full  explanation  of  its  text  as  well 
as  the  comments  of  the  Assembly  upon  it  and 
their  objections  to  parts  of  it.  When  recounting 
the  long  struggle  for  toleration  and  in  detail  the 
persecutions  of  the  Suffield  Separatists,   Holly 


LIBERTY  IN  CONNECTICUT  335 

dwells  upon  the  fact  that  before  the  recent  legis- 
lation of  the  Assembly,  the  spirit  of  fair  dealing 
had  in  some  communities  influenced  the  members 
of  the  Establishment  in  their  treatment  of  the 
Separatists.  Holly  also  enlarges  upon  the  incon- 
sistency between  demanding  freedom  in  temporal 
affairs  from  Great  Britain  and  refusing  it  in 
spiritual  ones  to  fellow-citizens.  The  "  Censured 
Memorial "  closes 162  with  an  expressed  determi- 
nation on  the  part  of  the  Separatists  to  appeal  to 
the  Continental  Congress  if  the  state  continue 
to  refuse  to  do  them  justice.  Holly,  remarking 
upon  the  act  of  1777,  expresses  great  dissatisfac- 
tion with  it  as  falling  short  of  the  liberty  desired, 
and,  particularly,  with  its  retention  of  the  certif- 
icate clause. 

Such  continued  agitation  of  the  rights  of  indi- 
viduals and  of  churches  eventually  created  a 
broader  public  opinion,  one  that,  permeating  the 
Establishment  itself,  tended  to  make  its  minis- 
ters resent  any  great  exercise  of  authority  on 
the  part  of  those  among  them  who  clung  to  the 
strong  Presbyterian  construction  of  the  Say- 
brook  Articles.  Communications  upon  the  sub- 
ject of  religious  liberty  were  to  be  found  in  many 
of  the  newspapers.  Two  governors  of  Connecti- 
cut wrote  pamphlets  that  tended  to  weaken  the 
hold  of  the  Saybrook  Platform  over  the  people. 


336    THE  DEVELOPMENT   OF  RELIGIOUS 

Governor  Wolcott  in  1761  wrote  against  it,  and  in 
1765  Governor  Fitch  (anonymously)  explained 
away  its  authoritative  interpretation.  The  term 
"Presbyterian"  came  to  be  applied  more  fre- 
quently to  the  conservative  churches  of  the 
Establishment,  and  "  Congregational  "  to  those 
wherein  the  New  Light  ideas  prevailed.  Some 
years  later,  while  the  two  terms  were  still  used 
interchangeably,  the  term  "Congregational"  rose 
in  favor,  and,  after  the  Revolution,  included  even 
the  few  Separatist  churches.  As  for  the  latter, 
they  had  by  1770  concluded  that  with  reference 
"  to  our  Baptist  brethren  we  are  free  to  hold 
occasional  communion  with  such  as  are  regular 
churches  and  .  .  .  make  the  Christian  profes- 
sion and  acknowledge  us  to  be  baptized." 163  For 
some  years  these  two  religious  parties  attempted 
to  unite  in  associations,  but  finding  that  they 
disagreed  too  much  on  the  question  of  baptism, 
they  mutually  decided  to  give  up  the  attempt, 
and  separated  with  the  greatest  respect  and  good 
will  toward  each  other.  In  1783,  the  Presby- 
terians refused  to  meet  the  Separatists  in  the 
attempt  to  devise  some  plan  of  union  between 
them,  but  did  advance  to  the  concession  "to 
admit  Separatists  to  Ordination  with  the  great- 
est care."  m  The  Presbyterians  were  beginning 
to  realize  that  if  the  Saybrook  Platform  was  to 


LIBERTY  IN  CONNECTICUT  337 

govern  the  churches  of  the  Establishment,  its 
old  judicial  interpretation  must  give  way.  An 
example  of  the  revolt  to  be  anticipated,  if  such 
interpretation  were  insisted  upon,  followed  the 
attempt  by  the  Consociation  of  Windham  in 
1780  to  discipline  Isaac  Foster,  a  Presbyterian 
minister,  for  "  sundry  doctrines  looked  upon  as 
dangerous  and  contrary  to  the  gospel ;  "  a  and 
a  similar  attempt  to  reprove  Mr.  Sage  of  West 
Simsbury  drew  forth  such  stirring  retorts  from 
Isaac  Foster  and  from  Dan  Foster,  minister  of 
Windsor  (who  defended  Mr.  Sage),  that  church 
after  church  promptly  renounced  the  Saybrook 
Platform.  These  churches  agreed  with  Isaac 
Foster  in  his  declaration  of  the  absolute  inde- 
pendence of  each  church  and  that  — 

no  clergyman  or  number  of  clergymen  or  ecclesi- 
astical council  of  whatever  denomination  have  right 
to  make  religious  creeds,  canons  or  articles  of  faith 
and  impose  them  upon  any  man  or  church  on  earth 
requiring  subscription  to  them.  ...  A  church  should 
be  the  sole  judge  of  its  pastor's  teachings  so  long  as 
he  teaches  nothing  expressly  contrary  to  the   Bible. 

a  Foster  replied :  "  One  man  is  not  to  be  called  a  '  here- 
tick,'  purely  because  he  differs  from  another,  as  to  the  arti- 
cles of  faith.  For  either  we  should  all  be  '  hereticks  '  or  there 
would  be  no  '  heresy '  among1  us.  .  .  .  Heresy  does  not  consist 
in  opinion  or  sentiments  :  it  is  not  an  error  of  head  but  of 
will."  —  Foster,  A  Defense  of  Religious  Liberty,  p.  47. 


338   THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  RELIGIOUS 

.  .  .  The  Consociation  has  no  right  to  pretend  that 
it  is  a  divinely  instituted  assembly  with  the  Say- 
brook  Platform  for  its  charter,  imposing  a  tyranny 
more  intolerable  on  the  people  than  that  from  which 
they  are  trying  to  free  themselves. 166 

The  result  of  all  this  agitation  for  liberty  of 
conscience,  emphasized  by  its  counterpart  in  the 
political  life  of  the  state  and  nation,  was  that  in 
the  first  edition  of  the  "  Laws  and  Acts  of  the 
State  of  Connecticut  in  America,"  °  appearing  in 
1784,  all  reference  to  the  Saybrook  Platform 
was  omitted,  and  all  ecclesiastical  laws  were 
grouped  under  the  three  heads  entitled  Rights  of 
Conscience,  Regulations  of  Societies,  and  the 
Observation  of  the  Sabbath.166  Under  the  Sun- 
day laws,  together  with  numerous  negative  com- 
mands, was  the  positive  one  that  every  one,  who, 
for  any  trivial  reason,  absented  himself  from 
public  worship  on  the  Lord's  day  should  pay  a 
fine  of  three  shillings,  or  fifty  cents.  The  society 
regulations  remained  much  the  same,  with  the 
added  privilege  that  to  all  religions  bodies  recog- 
nized by  law  permission  was  given  to  manage 
their  temporal  affairs  as  freely  as  did  the  churches 
of  the  Establishment.  Dissenters  were  even  per- 
mitted to  join  themselves  to  religious  societies  in 

a  This  revision  of  the  laws  was  in  charge  of  Roger  Sherman 
and  liichard  Law. 


LIBERTY  IN  CONNECTICUT  339 

adjoining  states,0  provided  the  place  of  worship 
was  not  too  far  distant  for  the  Connecticut  mem- 
bers to  regularly  attend  services.  To  these  terms 
of  toleration  was  affixed  the  sole  condition  of 
presenting  a  certificate  of  membership  signed  by 
an  officer  of  the  church  of  which  the  dissenter 
was  a  member,  and  that  the  certificate  should  be 
lodged  with  the  clerk  of  the  Established  society 
wherein  the  dissenter  dwelt.  While  legislation 
still  favored  the  Establishment,  toleration  was 
extended  with  more  honesty  and  with  better 
grace.  All  strangers  coming  into  the  state  were 
allowed  a  choice  of  religious  denominations,  but 
while  undecided  were  to  pay  taxes  to  the  society 
lowest  on  the  list.  Choice  was  also  given  for 
twelve  months  to  resident  minors  upon  their 
coming  of  age,  and  also  to  widows.  In  any  ques- 
tion, or  doubt,  the  society  to  which  the  father, 
husband,  or  head  of  the  household  belonged,  or 
had  belonged,  determined  the  church  home  of 
members  of  the  household  unless  the  certificates 
of  all  dissentitig  members  were  on  file.  If  per- 
sons were  undecided  when  the  time  of  choice  had 
elapsed,  and  they  had  not  presented  certificates, 
they  were  counted  members  of  the  Establish- 
ment.   Thus  the  Saybrook  Platform,  no  longer 

a  Quakers  and  Baptists  frequently  crossed  the  state  line  to 
attend  services  in  Rhode  Island. 


340    THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  RELIGIOUS 

appearing  upon  the  law-book,  was  quietly  rele- 
gated to  the  status  of  a  voluntarily  accepted 
ecclesiastical  constitution  which  the  different 
churches  might  accept,  interpreting  it  with  only 
such  degrees  of  strictness  as  they  chose.  Conse- 
quently, all  Congregational  and  Presbyterian 
churches  drew  together  and  remained  intimately 
associated  with  the  government  as  setting  forth 
the  form  of  religion  it  approved. 

As  toleration  was  more  freely  extended,  op- 
pression quickly  ceased.  The  smaller  and  weaker 
sects0  that  appeared  in  Connecticut  after  1770 
received  no  such  persecution  as  their  predeces- 
sors. Among  them  the  Sandemanians 6  appeared 
about  1766,  and  from  the  first  created  consid- 
erable interest.  The  Shakers  were  permitted 
to  form  a  settlement  at  Enfield  in  1780.  The 
Universalists  began  making  converts  among  the 

a  There  was  only  an  occasional  Romanist ;  Unitarians  first 
took  their  sectarian  name  in  1815 ;  Universalists  were  few  in 
number  until  the  second  quarter  of  the  new  century. 

b  This  sect  received  its  name  from  Rohfert  Sandeman,  the 
son-in-law  of  its  founder,  the  Rev.  John  Glass  of  Scotland. 
Sandeman  published  their  doctrines  about  1757.  In  1764,  he 
left  Scotland  and  came  to  America,  where  he  began  making- 
converts  near  Boston,  in  other  parts  of  New  England,  and  in 
Nova  Scotia.  He  died  at  Danbury,  Connecticut,  1771.  The 
members  of  the  sect  are  called  Glassites  in  Scotland,  where 
tin  Rev.  John  Glass  labored.  He  died  there  in  1773.  See  W. 
"Walker,  in  A)iurican  Hist.  Assoc.  Annual  Report,  1901,  vol.  i. 


LIBERTY  IN  CONNECTICUT  341 

Separatist  churches  of  Norwich  as  early  as  1772. 
The  year  1784  saw  the  organization  of  the  New 
London  Seventh-day  Baptist  church,  the  first  of 
its  kind  in  Connecticut. 

The  abrogation  of  the  Saybrook  Platform  was 
implied,  not  expressed,  by  dropping  it  out  of 
the  revised  laws  of  1784.  The  force  of  custom, 
not  the  repeal  of  the  act  of  establishment,  an- 
nulled it.  As  in  the  revision  of  1750,  certain 
outgrown  statutes  were  quietly  sloughed  off. 
After  the  abrogation  of  the  Saybrook  system, 
the  orthodox  dissenters  felt  most  keenly  the  hu- 
miliation of  giving  the  required  certificates,  and 
the  favoritism  shown  by  the  government  towards 
Presbyterian  or  Congregational  churches.  This 
favoritism  did  not  confine  itself  to  ecclesiastical 
affairs,  but  showed  itself  by  the  government's 
preference  for  members  of  the  Establishment  in 
all  civil,  judicial,  and  military  offices.  If  immedi- 
ately after  the  Revolution  this  favoritism  was 
not  so  marked,  it  quickly  developed  out  of  all 
proportion  to  justice  among  fellow-citizens. 


CHAPTER  XII 

CONNECTICUT  AT  THE  CLOSE  OF  THE  REVOLU- 
TION 

The  piping  times  of  peace. 

During  the  fifteen  years  following  the  ratifica- 
tion of  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States  by 
Connecticut,  January  9,  1788,  no  conspicuous 
events  mark  her  history.  These  years  were  for 
the  most  part  years  of  quiet  growth  and  of 
expansion  in  all  directions,  and,  because  of  this 
steady  advancement,  she  was  soon  known  as  "  the 
land  of  steady  habits  "  and  of  general  prosperity. 
Even  in  the  dark  days  of  the  Revolution,  Con- 
necticut's energetic  people  had  continued  to  pop- 
ulate her  waste  places,  and  had  carved  out  new 
towns  from  old  townships,  —  for  the  last  of  the 
original  plats  had  been  marked  off  in  1763.  In 
1779-80,  the  state  laid  out  five  towns ;  from 
1784  to  1787,  twenty-one,  —  twelve  of  them  in 
one  year,  1786.°  Tolland  County  was  divided 
off   in    1786  as  Windham  had  been  in  1726, 

°  Five  towns  were  laid  out  in  1785  ;  from  1784  to  1787, 
twenty-one  in  all  ;  from  1787  to  1800,  ten;  and  from  1800  to 
1818,  eleven.  —  Hollister,  Hist,  of  Connecticut,  pp.  409-70. 


RELIGIOUS  LIBERTY  IN  CONNECTICUT    343 

Litchfield  in  1751,  and  Middlesex  in  1765. 
These,  with  the  four  original  counties  of  Fair- 
field, New  Haven,  Hartford,  and  New  London, 
made  the  present  eight  counties  of  the  state. 
The  cities  of  Hartford,  New  Haven,  New  Lon- 
don, Middletown,  and  Norwich  were  incorporated 
in  1784.  They  were  scarcely  more  than  villages 
of  to-day,  for  New  Haven  approximated  3,000 
inhabitants,  and  Hartford,  as  late  as  1810,  only 
4,000.  The  Litchfield  of  the  post-Revolutionary 
days,  ranking,  as  a  trade-centre,  fourth  in  the 
state,  was  as  familiar  with  Indians  in  her  streets 
as  the  Milwaukee  of  the  late  fifties,  and  "  out 
west  "  was  no  farther  in  miles  than  the  Connect- 
icut Reserve  of  3,800,000  acres  in  Ohio  which, 
in  1786,  the  state  had  reserved,  when  ceding  her 
western  lands  to  the  new  nation.  Thither  emi- 
gration was  turning,  since  its  check  on  the  Sus- 
quehanna and  Delaware  by  the  award,  in  1782, 
to  Pennsylvania  of  the  contested  jurisdiction 
over  those  lands,  and  of  the  little  town  of  West- 
moreland, which  the  Yankees  had  built  there.a 

a  Of  the  seven  hundred  members  of  the  Susquehanna  Land 
Company,  formed  in  1754,  six  hundred  and  thirty-eight  were 
Connecticut  men.  A  summer  settlement  was  made  on  the 
Delaware  in  1757  and  on  the  Susquehanna  in  1762.  The  first 
permanent  settlement  was  in  1769.  At  the  close  of  the  Revo- 
lution, renewed  attempts  to  colonize  resulted  in  a  reign  of 
lawlessness  and  bloodshed. 


344    THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  RELIGIOUS 

After  the  decision  new  settlements  were  dis- 
couraged by  the. bitter  feuds  between  the  Con- 
necticut and  Pennsylvanian  claimants  to  the 
land. 

The  Revolution  had  left  Connecticut  ex- 
hausted in  men  and  in  means.  Her  largest 
seaboard  towns  had  suffered  severely.  With  her 
commerce  and  coasting  trade  almost  destroyed, 
she  found  herself,  during  the  period  preceding 
the  adoption  of  the  national  Constitution  and  the 
establishment  of  the  revenue  system,  a  prey  to 
New  York's  need  on  the  one  hand  and  to  Massa- 
chusetts' sense  of  impoverishment  on  the  other; 
and  thus,  for  every  article  imported  through 
either  state,  Connecticut  paid  an  impost  tax.  It 
was  estimated  that  she  thus  provided  one  third 
of  the  cost  of  government  for  each  of  her  neigh- 
bors. Consequently  she  attempted  to  reinstate 
and  to  enlarge  her  early  though  limited  com- 
merce, and  was  soon  sending  cargoes,  preemi- 
nently of  the  field  and  pasture,"  to  exchange  for 
West  India  commodities,  while  with  her  larger 
vessels  she  developed  an  East  Indian  trade.  As 
another   means   to   wealth,  the   state,  in  1791, 

a  Horses,  cattle,  beef,  pork,  staves,  flour,  grain.  During  the 
European  wars,  the  United  States  exported  foodstuffs  in  great 
quantities,  to  feed  both  French  and  English  armies,  amounting 
to  over  100,000  men. 


LIBERTY  IN  CONNECTICUT  345 

passed  laws  for  the  encouragement  of  the  small 
factories0  that  the  necessity  of  the  war  had 
created  ;  but  it  was  not  until  after  the  act  of 
1833,  creating  the  joint-stock  companies,  that 
Connecticut  turned  from  a  purely  agricultural 
community  to  the  great  manufacturing  state  we 
know  to-day.  She  shared  in  the  national  pros- 
perity, which,  as  early  as  1792,  proved  the  wisdom 
of  Hamilton's  financial  policy,  and  about  1795 
her  citizens  wisely  bent  themselves  to  the  improve- 
ment of  internal  communication.  This  was  the  era 
of  the  development  of  the  turnpike  and  of  the 
multiplicity  of  stage-lines.  Regular  stages  plied 
between  the  larger  cities.  Yet  up  to  1789  there 
was  not  a  post-office  or  a  mail  route  in  Litchfield 
county,  and  the  "  Monitor "  was  started  as  a 
weekly  paper  to  circulate  the  news.  In  1790  Litch- 
field had  a  fortnightly  carrier  to  New  York  and 
a  weekly  one  to  Hartford,  while  communication 

a  President  Stiles  was  interested  in  silk  culture  and  in  the 
manufacture  of  silk.  His  commencement  gown  in  1789  was  of 
Connecticut  make.  Through  the  efforts  of  General  Humphreys 
(1784-94)  attempts  were  made  to  introduce  the  Spanish  merino 
sheep  and  to  establish  factories  for  fine  broadcloth.  Iron 
works  were  set  up  in  different  parts  of  the  state.  The  earliest 
cotton  factories  centred  about  Pomfret.  Clocks,  watches, 
cut  shingle-nails,  paper,  stone,  and  earthenware  pottery,  were 
among  the  manufactures  started  in  Norwalk  between  1767 
and  1773,  while  in  Windham,  hosiery,  silk  and  tacks  were 
manufactured. 


346     THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  RELIGIOUS 

with  the  second  capital a  of  the  state  was  frequent. 
From  1800,  there  was  a  daily  stage  to  Hart- 
ford, New  Haven,  Norwalk,  Poughkeepsie,  and 
Albany.167  Wagons  and  carriages  began  to  mul- 
tiply and  to  replace  saddle-bags  and  pillions,  yet 
as  late  as  1815  Litchfield  town  had  only  "  one 
phaeton,  one  coachee,  and  forty-six  two-wheeled 
pleasure-wagons."  168 

Towns  continued  to  commend  and  encourage 
good  public  schools.  Every  town  or  parish  of 
seventy  families  had  to  keep  school  eleven  months 
of  the  year,  and  those  of  less  population  for  at 
least  six  months.  Private  schools  and  academies 
sprang  up.6  Harvard  and  Yale,  as  the  best 
equipped  of  the  New  England  colleges,  competed 

a  In  1701  the  General  Court  enacted  that  the  May  session  of 
the  Legislature  should  be  held  at  New  Haven,  and  the  October 
one  at  Hartford.  This  was  a  concession  to  the  former  sover- 
eignty of  the  New  Haven  Colony.  The  arrangement  continued 
until  1873.  The  biennial  sessions,  introduced  by  the  constitu- 
tion of  1818,  alternated  between  the  two  capitols. 

6  "  Mr.  Dwight  is  enlarging  his  School  to  comprehend  the 
Ladies,  .  .  .  promising  to  carry  them  through  a  course  of 
belles  Lettres,  Geography,  Philosophy,  and  Astronomy.  The 
spirit  for  Academy  making  is  vigorous."  —  Stiles  Diary,  iii, 
247. 

Of  the  academies,  the  more  famous  were  Lebanon,  Plain- 
field,  Greenfield  (under  Dr.  Dwight),  Norwich,  Windham, 
Waterbury  (for  both  sexes),  and  Stratfield  from  1788  to  1786. 
There  was  also  a  second  school  in  Norwich  from  1783  to  1780. 
See  Stiles  Diary,  iii,  248. 


LIBERTY   IN  CONNECTICUT  347 

for  its  young  men,  and  drew  others  from  the 
central  and  southern  sections  of  the  nation. 
Neither  had  either  Divinity  or  Law  School.0 
Young  men  after  completing  their  college  course 
usually  went  to  some  famous  minister  for  gradu- 
ate training.  Rev.  Joseph  Bellamy,  John  Smalley, 
and  Jonathan  Edwards,  Junior,  were  the  fore- 
most teachers  in  Connecticut,  though  the  first- 
named  had  ceased  his  active  work  in  1787.6  The 
New  Divinity  was  very  slowly  spreading.  Even 
as  late  as  1792,  President  Stiles  of  Yale  declared 
that  none  of  the  churches  had  accepted  it.c   This 

a  Harvard  Divinity  School  was  established  1815  ;  Yale.  1822. 
Previously  both  universities  had  each  a  professor  of  divinity. 

b  "  For  three  years  and  three  months  before  his  [Bellamy's] 
death  he  was  disabled  by  a  paralytic  Shock,  w°  impaired  his 
Intellect  as  well  as  debilitated  his  Body.  Few  were  equal  to 
him  in  the  Desk  &  he  was  Communicative  and  instructive  in 
Conversation  upon  religious  Subjects."  The  passage  closes 
with  the  prophecy,  "  His  numerous  noisy  Writings  have  blazed 
their  day,  and  one  Generation  more  will  put  them  to  sleep."  — 
Stiles  Diary,  March  16, 1790  (on  hearing  the  news  of  Bellamy's 
death).  See  vol.  iii,  pp.  384-385.  See  Trumbull,  ii,  159,  for  a 
more  favorable  opinion. 

c  Referring  to  the  successor  of  Dr.  Wales  in  the  Yale  chair 
of  divinity,  Pres.  Stiles  wrote,  "  An  Old  Divinity  man  will  be 
acceptable  to  all  the  Old  Divy.  Ministers  &  to  all  the  Churches  : 
a  New  Div'  man  will  be  acceptable  to  all  the  New  Divy.  Min- 
isters and  to  None  of  the  Churches,  as  none  of  the  Chhs.  in  New 
Engl,  are  New  Div'."—  Stiles  Diary,  iii,  506,  note  (Sept.  8, 1793). 
See  also  under  date  of  Nov.  16,  1786,  where  churches  are  said 
to  take  New  Divinity  pastors  "  because  they  can  get  no  others, 
but  persons  in  the  parish  know  nothing  of  the  New  Theology." 


348    THE   DEVELOPMENT   OF   RELIGIOUS 

versatile  minister  interested  himself  in  languages, 
literatures,  natural  science,  and  in  all  religions, 
as  well  as  in  the  phases  of  New  England  theology. 
He  esteemed  piety  and  sound  doctrine,  whether 
in  Old  or  New  Divinity  men,  and  welcomed  to 
his  communion  all  of  good  conscience  who  be- 
longed to  any  Christian  Protestant  sect.  He  was 
liberal-minded  and  tolerant  beyond  the  average 
of  his  colleagues.  His  tolerance,  however,  was 
more  for  the  old  Calvinistic  principles  in  the 
New  Divinity,  and  not  for  its  advanced  features, 
for  which  he  had  little  regard.  President  Stiles 
held  very  firmly  to  the  belief  that  his  ministerial 
privileges  and  authority  remained  with  him  after 
he  became  president  of  the  college,  although  he 
was  no  longer  pastor  by  the  election  of  a  particu- 
lar church. 

The  first  law  school  in  America  was  estab- 
lished in  Litchfield  in  1784  by  Judge  Tappan 
Reeve,  later  chief  justice  of  Connecticut.  He 
associated  with  him  in  1798  Judge  James  Gould. 
"  Judge  Reeve  loved  law  as  a  science  and  studied 
it  philosophically."  He  wished  "  to  reduce  it  to 
a  system,  for  he  considered  it  as  a  practical 
application  of  moral  and  religious  principles  to 
business  life."  His  students  were  drilled  in  the 
study  of  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States 
and  on  the  current  legislation  in  Congress.  Under 


LIBERTY  IN  CONNECTICUT  349 

Judge  Gould,  the  common  law  was  expounded 
methodically  and  lucidly,  as  it  could  be  only  by 
one  who  knew  its  principles  and  their  underlying 
reasons  from  a  to  z.m  In  1789,  Ephraim  Kirby 
of  Litchfield  published  the  first  law  reports  ever 
issued  in  the  United  States.0  Law  students  from 
many  states  were  attracted  to  the  town.  The 
roll  of  the  school,  kept  regularly  only  after  1798, 
included  over  one  thousand  lawyers,  among  them 
one  vice-president  of  the  United  States,  several 
foreign  ministers,  five  cabinet  ministers,6  two 
justices  of  the  United  States  Supreme  Court,  ten 
governors  of  states,  sixteen  United  States  sen- 
ators, fifty  members  of  Congress,  forty  judges  of 
the  higher  state  courts,  and  eight  chief  justices 
of  the  state.170 

Among  Connecticut  towns,  the  two  capitals 
of  the  state  were  also  literary  centres,  while  Nor- 
wich, New  Haven,  and  New  London  were  fast 
becoming  commercial  ports.  Middletown  soon  had 
considerable  coasting  trade.  Wethersfield  had 
vessels  of  her  own.    Even  Say  brook  and  Milford 

°  "  Law  Reports  of  the  Superior  and  Supreme  Courts,  1785- 
1788,  by  E.  Kirby.  Just  published  at  this  office  and  ready 
for  subscribers  and  gentlemen  disposed  to  purchase,  for  which 
most  kinds  of  country  produce  will  be  received."  —  Advertise- 
ment in  Litchfield  Monitor  of  Apr.  13,  1789. 

b  Calhoun,  Woodbury,  Mason,  Clayton,  and  Hubbard.  Judge 
Reeve  retired  in  1S20 ;  Judge  Gould  in  1833. 


350    THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  RELIGIOUS 

sent  a  few  vessels  to  the  West  and  East  Indies. 
Farmington  was  a  big  trading  centre,  shipping 
produce  abroad  and  importing  in  vessels  of  her 
own  that  sailed  from  Wethersfield  or  New  Haven. 
Some  few  towns  developed  a  special  industry, 
like  Berlin  and  New  Britain,  that  made  the  Con- 
necticut tin-peddler  a  familiar  figure  even  in  the 
Middle  and  Southern  states.  There  were  also 
several  towns  with  large  shipyards,  where  some 
of  the  largest  ships  were  built.  But  back  of  all 
such  centres  of  activity,  the  whole  state  was  sol- 
idly agricultural.  Connecticut's  commerce  was 
an  import  commerce  exchanging  natural  prod- 
ucts for  foreign  ones,  such  as  sugar,  coffee,  and 
molasses  from  the  West  Indies  ;  tea  and  luxuries 
from  the  East ;  and  obtaining,  either  directly  or 
indirectly,  from  Europe,  all  the  fine  manufactured 
products,  whether  stuffs  for  personal  use  or  tools 
for  labor. 

In  measuring  the  prosperity  and  intelligence 
of  the  Connecticut  people  neither  the  parish 
library  nor  the  newspaper  must  be  overlooked. 
"  I  am  acquainted,"  wrote  Noah  Webster  in  1790, 
"  with  parishes  where  almost  every  householder 
has  read  the  works  of  Addison,  Sherlock,  Atter- 
bury,  Watts,  Young,  and  other  familiar  writings : 
and  will  conversely  handsomely  on  the  subjects 
of  which  they  treat."  171    "  By  means  of  the  gen- 


LIBERTY  IN  CONNECTICUT  351 

eral  circulation  of  the  public  papers,"  wrote  the 
same  author,  "the  people  are  informed  of  all 
political  affairs ;  and  their  representatives  are 
often  prepared  to  debate  upon  propositions  made 
in  the  legislature."  172 

Through  the  agricultural  communities  of  Con- 
necticut, as  well  as  in  the  towns,  the  weekly- 
newspapers  of  the  state  began  to  circulate  freely 
as  soon  as  carriers  or  mail  routes  were  estab- 
lished. Even  by  1785  there  was  in  Connecticut 
a  newspaper  circulation  of  over  8000  weekly 
copies,  which  was  equal  to  that  published  in  the 
whole  territory  south  of  Philadelphia.173  These 
papers  lacked  locals  and  leaders,  leaving  the 
former  to  current  gossip,  and  for  the  latter  sub- 
stituting, to  some  extent,  letters  and  correspond- 
ence. The  newspapers  gave  foreign  news  three 
months  old,  the  proceedings  of  Congress  in  from 
ten  to  twelve  days  after  their  occurrence,  and 
news  from  the  Connecticut  elections  three  weeks 
late.  Subjects  relating  to  religion  and  politics 
were  heard  pro  and  con  in  articles,  or  rather 
letters,  signed  with  grandiloquent  pseudonyms 
and  frequently  marked  "  Papers,  please  copy  " 
in  order  to  secure  for  them  a  larger  public. 
Fantastic  bits  of  natural  science,  or  what  pur- 
ported to  be  such,  and  stilted  admonitions  to 
virtue,  as  well  as  poems,  eulogies,  and  obituaries, 


352     THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  RELIGIOUS 

were  admitted  to  the  columns  of  these  colonial 
papers.  In  1786,  the  "  Connecticut  Courant  " 
apologized  for  its  meagre  reports  of  legis- 
lative proceedings,  especially  of  those  of  the 
Upper  House,  Council,  or  Senate,  and  promised 
to  give  full  details.  This  reporting  was  a  new 
thing,  and  it  was  fully  five  years  more  before 
the  practice  became  general  among  the  half  dozen 
papers  published  in  Connecticut.0  Space  was 
also  given  in  the  papers  to  the  reproduction  of 
selections,  even  whole  chapters,  from  current  and 
popular  writers.  Among  such  letters  was  a  series 
on  "  the  Establishment  of  the  Worship  of  the 
Deity  essential  to  National  Happiness."  In  one 
of  the  letters,  the  author  suggests  :  — 

To  secure  the  advantages  .  .  .  allow  me  to  pro- 
pose a  general  and  equitable  tax  collected  from  all 
the  rateable  members  of  a  state,  for  the  support  of 
the  public  teachers  of  religion,  of  all  denominations, 
within  the  state.  .  .  .  Let  a  moderate  poll  tax  be 
added  to  a  tax  of  a  specified  sum  on  the  pound,  and 
levied  on  all  the  subjects  of  a  state  and  collected  with 
the  public  tax,  and  paid  out  to  the  public  teachers  of 
religion  of  the  several  denominations  in  proportion  to 
the  number  of  polls  or  families,  belonging  to  each  re- 
spectively ;  or  according  to  their  estimates.      [For] 

1.  It  would  be  equitable. 

a  Reporters  were  admitted  to  the  national  House  of  Repre- 
sentatives in  1790  and  to  the  Senate  in  1802. 


LIBERTY  IN   CONNECTICUT  353 

2.  It  would  be  for  the  good  order  of  the  civil 
state. 

3.  All  ought  to  contribute  to  such  a  religious  edu- 
cation of  the  people  as  would  conduce  to  civil  order. 

4.  It  would  promote  the  peace  in  towns  and  socie- 
ties. 

5.  It  would  do  away  with  the  legal  expenses  con- 
sequent upon  difficulties  in  collecting  rates. 

6.  It  would  "  extinguish  the  ardor  of  the  founders 
of  new  delusions  and  their  weak  and  mercenary 
abettors." 

7.  It  would  prevent  separation  except  upon  the 
firmest  principles  ;  "  the  powerful  motive  of  saving 
a  penny  or  two  in  the  pound,  would  cease  to  operate, 
because  their  tax  would  continue  still  the  same,  go 
where  they  will."  m 

It  was  also  suggested  that  the  Assembly  should 
fix  ministers'  salaries  at  so  much  per  hundred 
families,  and  that  congregations  should  be  per- 
mitted to  add  to  the  annual  grant  by  voluntary 
contributions.  These  are  but  examples  of  the 
reaching  out  of  the  public  mind  for  some  equi- 
table method  of  enforcing  the  support  of  public 
worship,  —  a  principle  to  which  the  majority  still 
adhered. 

The  Laws  of  the  State  of  Connecticut,  under 
which  after  the  Revolution  parishes  were  organ- 
ized, contained  no  reference  to  the  Episcopal 
church  as  such.     All  societies  and  congregations 


354     THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  RELIGIOUS 

were  placed  on  the  same  footing  precisely,  i.e., 
they  "  had  power  to  provide  for  the  support  of 
public  worship  by  the  rent  or  sale  of  pews  or 
slips  in  the  meeting-house,  by  the  establishment 
of  funds,  or  in  any  other  way  they  might  deem 
expedient."  With  this  amount  of  freedom  Epis- 
copalians were  content,  since  by  the  consecra- 
tion, in  1784,  of  Samuel  Seabury,  Bishop  of 
Connecticut,  their  ecclesiastical  equipment  was 
complete.0  Further,  many  of  them  had  been 
Tories,  and,  satisfied  with  the  clemency  shown 
them  at  the  close  of  the  war  by  the  authorities, 
they  gladly  affiliated  with  them  in  all  Federal 
measures  of  national  importance,  and  also,  for 
over  thirty  years,  in  all  local  issues. 

a  Bishop  Seabury  was  consecrated  by  the  Scotch  non-juring 
bishops,  Nov.  14, 1786.  The  latter,  about  four  years  later,  were 
restored  to  their  position  as  an  integral  part  of  the  Anglican 
hierarchy.  Meanwhile,  Dr.  Samuel  Provoost  of  New  York 
and  Dr.  William  White  of  Pennsylvania,  on  Feb.  4, 1787,  were 
consecrated  by  the  Archbishops  of  Canterbury  and  York, 
assisted  by  the  Bishops  of  Wells  and  Peterborough,  after  a 
special  Act  of  Parliament  permitting  the  consecration  to  take 
place  without  the  usual  oaths  of  allegiance  to  the  King  as  head 
of  the  church.  In  1789,  Bishop  Seabury  became  president  of 
the  House  of  Bishops  thus  formed  in  America.  The  follow- 
ing year,  James  Madison  of  Virginia  was  consecrated  by  the 
English  bishops,  thus  giving  to  the  United  States  three  bish- 
ops after  the  English  succession,  so  that  the  validity  of  the 
Scottish  rite  should  not  be  questioned  in  the  consecration  of 
future  American  bishops. 


LIBERTY  IN  CONNECTICUT  355 

From  1783  to  1787  there  was  throughout  the 
United  States  a  general  disintegration  of  politi- 
cal parties.175  Federalists  and  nascent  Anti- 
Federalists  were  alike  seeking  some  basis  f&i  a 
safe  national  existence.  The  Constitution  once 
established,  political  parties  differentiated  them- 
selves as  the  party  in  power  and  the  "  out-party  " 
developed  their  respective  interpretations  of  the 
Constitution  and  of  measures  permitted  under 
it.  The  Anti-Federalist  party  in  Connecticut  is 
sometimes  said  to  have  been  born  in  1783  out 
of  opposition  both  to  the  Commutation  Act  of 
the  Continental  Congress,  voting  five  years'  full 
pay  instead  of  half -pay  for  life  to  the  Revolu- 
tionary officers,  and  to  the  formation  of  the  Cin- 
cinnati. Both  of  these  measures  touched  the 
main  spring  of  party  difference.  America  had 
caste  as  well  as  Europe.  Though  of  a  different 
type,  it  existed  in  every  town  and  county.  There 
were  the  people  of  position,  attained  by  family 
standing,  professional  prominence,  superior  in- 
telligence (rarely  by  wealth  alone),  and  then, 
as  now,  by  natural  leadership.  There  were  the 
common  people  of  ordinary  abilities  and  meagre 
possessions,  who  looked  up  to  this  first  class. 
Between  the  two  there  was  an  invisible  barrier. 
The  customs  of  the  day  emphasized  it.  Yet 
the  institutions  of  the  land  and  its  democracy 


356    THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  RELIGIOUS 

demanded  that  this  barrier,  not  impassable  to  men 
of  parts  and  character  who  could  push  up  from 
the  masses,  should  never  become  insurmountable, 
as  it  often  did  under  a  monarchy ;  that  it  should 
be  steadily  leveled  by  intrusting  the  governing 
power  more  and  more  to  the  whole  people,  rather 
than  to  a  few  leaders  ;  and  by  educating  the 
masses  up  to  their  responsibilities.  But  many 
of  the  leading  Federalists  preferred  to  concen- 
trate power  in  the  hands  of  the  few,  hesitating  to 
trust  the  judgment  of  the  great  body  of  citizens 
with  the  new  and  novel  government.  And  to 
the  people  at  large  any  measure  that  bore  a  re- 
mote resemblance  to  monarchical  institutions  or 
monarchical  aspirations  —  however  far  remote 
from  either  —  was  subject  to  suspicion  and  antag- 
onism. The  Cincinnati  might  be  the  beginning 
of  a  nobility,  and  half-pay  or  five  years'  full  pay 
to  the  officers  ignored  the  common  soldiery  who 
had  done  most  of  the  fighting,  and  who  had 
suffered  even  more  severely  in  their  fortunes." 

a  The  eighty  dollars  proposed  for  privates  would  not  go  far 
toward  mending  broken  fortunes,  or  care  for  broken  constitu- 
tions and  crippled  bodies. 

At  the  Middletown  Convention,  Sept.  3,  1783,  delegates 
from  Hartford,  Wethersfield,  and  Glastonbury  met  to  de- 
nounce the  Commutation  Act.  At  its  adjourned  meeting  on 
Sept.  30  fifty  towns,  a  majority  in  the  state,  disapproved  the 
Act  in  an  address  to  the  General  Assembly,  and  called  attention 
to  the  Society  of  the  Cincinnati.    At  the  last  meeting,  March, 


LIBERTY  IN  CONNECTICUT  357 

When  the  measures  of  the  first  Congress  pressed 
hardest  upon  the  impoverished  landed  proprietors 
of  the  South  and  upon  the  small  farmers  in  other 
sections  of  the  country,  they  welded  the  landed 
aristocracy  of  the  South  and  the  democracy  of 
the  North  into  the  Anti-Federal  party.  Add  to 
their  sense  of  impoverishment,  their  common 
hatred  of  England,  and  these  classes  would  hold 
their  prejudice  longer  than  the  merchants,  the 
lawyers,  and  the  clergy,  whose  business,  studies, 
and  labors  would  tend  to  soften  the  antagonism 
created  by  the  war.  New  England,  however,  was 
largely  Federal,  and  Connecticut  was  one  of  the 
strongholds  of  that  party,  priding  herself  upon 
returning  Federal  electors  as  long  as  there  was 
the  shadow  of  the  Federal  name  to  vote  for. 
Moreover,  the  "  Presbyterian  Consociated  Con- 
gregational Church  "  and  the  Federalists  were 
so  closely  allied  that  the  party  of  the  government 
and  the  party  of  the  Establishment  were  famil- 
iarly and  collectively  known  as  the  "  Standing 
Order."  During  the  early  years  of  statehood, 
by  far  the  larger  number  of  the  dissenters  were 
also  good  Federalists.    But  they  drew  away  from 

1784,  an  address  to  the  people  of  the  state  was  framed  which 
condemned  both  the  Commutation  Act  and  the  Cincinnati.  — 
J.  H.  Trumbull,  Notes  on  the  Constitution,  p.  18.  Noah  Web- 
ster, History  of  the  Parties  in  the  United  States,  pp.  317-320. 


358    THE  DEVELOPMENT   OF   RELIGIOUS 

the  party  at  a  later  date,  when  the  Democratic- 
Republicans  began,  in  their  Connecticut  state 
politics,  to  call  for  a  broader  suffrage  and  full 
religious  liberty,  while  the  Federal  Standing 
Order  still  continued  to  claim,  as  within  its 
patronage,  legal  favors,  political  office,  and  the 
honors  of  judicial,  military,  and  civil  life. 
/  /  After  the  Revolution,  the  rapidly  increasing- 

Baptists  continued  their  warfare  waged  against 
certificates  and  in  behalf  of  religious  liberty. 
Methodists  soon  sympathized,  for  Methodist  itin- 
erants, entering  Connecticut  in  1789,  gained  a 
footing,  in  spite  of  much  opposition  and  real  op- 
pression through  fines  and  imprisonments,0  and 

a  Methodism  was  twenty-eight  years  old,  when,  in  1766, 
Robert  Strawbridge  introduced  it  into  New  York,  and  Philip 
Embury  preached  his  first  sermon  in  a  sail -loft.  In  1771, 
Francis  Asbury,  later  Bishop  Asbury,  was  appointed  John 
Wesley's  "Assistant"  in  America.  In  1773,  the  first  Annual 
Conference  was  held.  Methodism  rapidly  spread  in  the  Middle 
and  Southern  states.  By  the  year  1773-74,  the  year's  increase 
in  members  was  nine  hundred  and  thirteen ;  in  1774-75,  ten 
hundred  and  seventy-three.  The  preachers  traveled  on  foot 
or  on  horseback,  preaching  as  they  went ;  living  on  the  smallest 
allowance  ;  sleeping  where  night  overtook  them  ;  and  meeting, 
often  with  grudging  hospitality,  suspicion,  and,  sometimes, 
open  violence. 

Methodism  "  began  when  Episcopacy  was  at  its  lowest  point, 
both  in  efficiency,  and  in  the  good-will  of  the  people."  It 
agreed  with  Jonathan  Edwards  on  the  nature  of  personal 
religion,  and  separated  from  the  Church  of  England  in  this, 
the  Methodist's  central  principle  of  "  conscious  conversion  "  or 


LIBERTY   IN   CONNECTICUT  359 

quickly  made  many  converts.  Their  preachers 
urged  upon  penurious  and  backward  members 
the  importance  of  voluntary  support  of  the  gospel 
in  almost  the  same  words  as  those  of  the  Bap- 
tist leader :  "  It  is  as  real  robbery  to  neglect 
the  ordinances  of  God,  as  it  is  to  force  people  to 
support  preachers  who  will  not  trust  his  influence 

"  emotional  experience."  Later  in  New  England,  Wesley's 
missionaries  united  in  Methodist  societies  many  of  the  converts 
to  the  Edwardean  theology. 

At  the  opening  of  the  Revolution,  the  whole  body  of  Meth- 
odists were  within  the  Church  of  England.  Of  the  English 
missionaries  only  Asbury,  Dempster,  and  Wharcott  remained 
in  America  to  carry  on,  with  native  preachers,  the  work  of 
proselytizing.  It  was  "  the  only  form  of  religion  that  advanced 
in  America  during  that  dark  period,  and  during  the  war,  it 
more  than  quadrupled  both  its  ministry  and  members."  At 
the  beginning  of  the  war,  it  had  eighty  traveling  preachers, 
beside  local  preachers  and  exhorters ;  a  membership  of  one 
thousand,  and  auditors  ten  thousand.  In  1784,  there  was  a  year's 
increase  of  fourteen  thousand  nine  hundred  and  eighty-eight 
members,  and  of  one  hundred  and  four  preachers  to  rejoice  in 
the  consecration  of  Bishop  Asbury.  In  the  November  of  that 
year,  Bishops  Coke  and  Asbury,  organizing  the  "  American 
Episcopal  Church,"  in  spite  of  Wesley's  anathemas  probably 
led  out  one  hundred  thousand  souls  as  the  nucleus  of  the  new 
church. 

For  a  while  the  Connecticut  authorities  refused  to  recognize 
"  as  sober  Dissenters  "  any  converts  other  than  the  stationed 
preachers  and  their  charges.  The  persecutions  which  the 
Methodists  suffered  were  those  of  slander,  the  refusal  to  them 
of  halls,  churches,  or  public  buildings ;  the  refusal  to  permit 
their  ministers,  unless  located,  to  perform  the  marriage  cere- 
mony ;  and  petty  fines,  with  occasional  unjust  imprisonment. 


360     THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  RELIGIOUS 

for  a  temporal  living."  176  Baptists,  Methodists, 
and  many  other  dissenters  were  far  from  satis- 
fied with  their  status,  and  the  government  from 
time  to  time  was  forced  to  take  notice  of  the  dis- 
satisfaction. Temporary  legislation  was  enacted 
to  allay  the  unrest,  but,  as  there  was  a  settled 
determination  to  protect  the  Establishment  and 
to  keep  the  political  leadership  among  its  friends, 
the  various  measures  were  not  successful.  For 
instance,  the  legislature  in  1785-86  had  arranged 
for  the  sale  of  the  Western  Lands  and  for  the 
money  expected  from  their  sale  to  be  divided 
among  the  various  Christian  bodies,  and  it  had 
also  enacted  — 

that  there  shall  be  reserved  to  the  public  five  hun- 
dred acres  of  land  in  each  township  for  the  support 
of  the  gospel  ministry  and  five  hundred  acres  more 
for  the  support  of  schools  in  such  towns  forever  ;  and 
two  hundred  and  forty  acres  of  good  ground  in  each 
town  to  be  granted  in  fee  simple  to  the  first  gospel 
minister  who  shall  settle  in  such  town.177 

Nothing  is  here  said  of  the  Presbyterians,  or 
of  any  other  sect,  yet  that  denomination  was  sure 
to  receive  the  greater  benefit  under  the  working 
of  the  law.  They  were  a  wealthy  body,  and  in 
the  next  year,  they  began,  under  the  General 
Association  of  Connecticut,  to  renew  their  earlier 
efforts  for  an  organized  planting   of  missions. 


LIBERTY  IN  CONNECTICUT  361 

Attempts  to  establish  missionary  posts  were  be- 
gun as  early  as  1774,  but  they  had  been  inter- 
rupted by  the  war,  and  were  not  revived  until 
1780,  when  two  missionaries  were  sent  to  Ver- 
mont. After  a  little,  the  missionary  spirit  lan- 
guished through  lack  of  support ;  but  interest  had 
been  roused  again  by  the  promised  lands  and 
money  from  the  sales  in  the  Western  Reserve, 
and  by  the  contributions  that,  flowing  in  from 
1788  to  1791,  warranted  the  dispatch  of  mission- 
aries into  the  western  field  in  1792,  and  regu- 
larly thereafter.178 

Turning  to  the  religious  and  more  strictly 
theological  side  of  the  development  of  toleration, 
there  was  within  the  Establishment  itself  a  grad- 
ual modification  of  opinion  concerning  member- 
ship. It  was  witnessed  to  by  the  contents  of  a 
book  entitled  "  Christian  Forbearance  to  Weak 
Consciences  a  Duty  of  the  Gospel,"  by  John 
Lewis  of  Stepney  parish,  Wethersfield.  It  was 
sent  out  in  1789  for  the  purpose  of  "  Attempting 
to  prove  that  Persons,  absenting  themselves  from 
the  Lord's  Table,  through  honest  scruples  of 
Conscience,  is  not  such  a  breach  of  Covenant 
but  that  they  partake  other  Privileges."  One 
may  recall  that  twenty  years  previous,  1769-71, 
Dr.  Bellamy  was  thundering  not  only  against 
the  Half- Way  Covenant,  but  also  against  the 


362    THE   DEVELOPMENT  OF  RELIGIOUS 

Stoddardean  view  of  the  Lord's  Supper  as  a 
"  means  "  of  grace,  —  as  a  sacrament  the  par- 
taking of  which  would  help  unworthy  or  uncon- 
verted men  to  conversion  and  to  the  leading  of 
moral  and  holy  lives.  One  might,  for  a  moment, 
anticipate  that  the  Wethersfield  pastor  was  hark- 
ing back  to  the  old  idea.  But  this  was  not  his 
point  of  view.  "  I  reprobate,"  he  writes,  "  the  idea 
of  a  Half- Way  Covenant,  or  sealing  of  such  a 
covenant." 179  Lewis  contended  that  all  seekers 
after  holiness  were  to  enter  the  church  through 
the  "  very  same  covenant,"  but  that  to  all  of 
them  were  to  be  extended  the  same  and  all  church 
privileges,  and  that  they  were  to  accept  them 
"  as  far  as  in  their  conscience  they  can  see  their 
way  clear,  hoping  for  further  light."  If  they 
could  accept  baptism  and  church  oversight,  and 
could  not,  because  of  honest  scruples  of  con- 
science (lest  they  were  not  worthy),  approach  the 
Lord's  Table,  they  were  not  for  that  reason  to 
be  considered  reprobates.  As  to  such  charity  open- 
ing a  way  for  persons  of  immoral  lives  to  creep 
into  the  churches  or  to  put  off  willfully  the  par- 
taking of  communion,  the  author's  experience  of 
many  years  had  proved  the  contrary,  though  he 
could  not  deny  that  the  possibility  of  hypocrisy 
and  backsliding  might  exist  under  any  form  of 
member  ship. 


LIBERTY  IN  CONNECTICUT  363 

As  a  side  light  upon  the  growth  of  toleration 
during  twenty  years  within  the  churches  of  the 
Establishment,  two  entries  in  President  Stiles's 
diary  may  be  quoted.  Writing  in  1769,  to  the 
Rev.  Noah  Wells  of  Stamford,  Conn.,  with  refer- 
ence to  the  call  of  the  Rev.  Samuel  Hopkins  to 
a  pastorate  in  Newport,  R.  L,  where  Dr.  Stiles 
was  then  j)reaching,  the  latter  says :  "  If  I  find 
him  (Hopkins)  of  a  Disposition  to  live  in  an 
honorable  Friendship,  I  shall  gladly  cultivate  it. 
But  he  must  not  expect  that  I  recede  from  my 
Sentiments  both  in  Theology  and  ecclesiastical 
Polity  more  than  he  from  his,  in  which  I  pre- 
sume he  is  immovably  fixed.  We  shall  certainly 
differ  in  some  things.  I  shall  endeavor  to  my 
utmost  to  live  with  him  as  a  Brother  ;  as  I  think 
(it)  dishonorable  that  in  almost  every  populous 
place  on  this  Continent,  where  there  are  two  or 
more  Presb.  [yterian]  or  Cong,  [regational]  Chhs. 
[churches],  they  should  be  at  greater  variance 
than  Prot.  [estants]  and  Romanists :  witness 
every  city  or  Town  from  Georgia  to  Nova  Scotia 
(except  Portsmth)  a  where  there  are  more  Presb. 
chhs  than  one.  The  Wound  is  well  nigh  healed 
here,  may  it  not  break  out  again."180  Writ- 
ing some  two  years  after  the  appearance  of 
Lewis's  book,  President  Stiles,  commenting  upon 

«  Portsmouth,  N.  H. 


364    THE   DEVELOPMENT  OF  RELIGIOUS 

the  fact  that  each  dissenting  sect  was  so  absolutely 
sure  that  it  alone  had  the  only  perfect  type 
of  faith  and  polity,  notes  the  greater  tolerance 
among  the  Congregational  churches,  for  the 
latter  were  not  as  a  rule  close  communion 
churches,  as  were  those  of  the  dissenting  sects. 

Indeed,  the  intolerance  shown  towards  dis- 
senters was  by  this  time  not  so  much  sectarian, 
not  so  much  a  lack  of  tolerance  toward  slightly 
varying  fundamentals  of  faith,  form  of  worship, 
and  organization,  as  an  intolerance  based  upon 
the  conviction  that  the  body  politic  must  be  pro- 
tected by  a  state  church.  There  was,  of  course,  a 
little  of  the  exasperating  sense  of  superiority  in 
belonging  to  the  favored  Establishment.  The 
old  objection  to  dissent  as  heresy  —  as  a  sin  for 
which  the  community  was  responsible  —  had 
for  the  most  part  given  way  to  opposition  to  it  as 
introducing  a  system  of  voluntary  contributions 
for  the  support  of  religion.  And  there  was  a 
very  general  and  well-defined  fear  that  such  a 
support  would  prove  inadequate.  If  so,  deterio- 
ration of  the  state  and  of  its  people  would  follow. 
For  individual  worth  and  character,  many  among 
the  dissenters  were  highly  respected,  and  the 
great  body  of  them  were  esteemed  good  citizens. 
Among  the  churches,  some  few  of  the  established 
ones  were  beginning  to  have  their  own  services 


LIBERTY  IN  CONNECTICUT  365 

occasionally  conducted  by  dissenting  ministers. 
The  First  Society  of  Canterbury  entered  a  vote 
to  this  effect  in  1791.  As  the  churches  trans- 
lated more  liberally  the  Articles  of  the  Saybrook 
Platform,  they  approached  a  polity  more  in  com- 
mon with  that  of  Separatist  and  Baptist.  By 
1800,  the  teachings  of  John  Wise  of  Ipswich, 
reinforced  by  those  of  Nathaniel  Emmons,  "  the 
father  of  modern  Congregationalism,"  had  per- 
meated all  New  England.  Wise,  in  his  efforts  to 
revive  the  independence  of  the  single  churches, 
had  exploded  the  Barrowism  which  New  England 
usage  had  introduced  into  original  Congregation- 
alism, and  the  rebound  had  carried  the  churches 
as  far  beyond  the  Cambridge  Platform  towards 
original  Brownism  as  the  Presbyterian  movement 
had  carried  their  polity  away  from  the  Cam- 
bridge instrument.181  The  later  Edwardean  school 
had  devoted  itself  to  the  discussion  of  doctrine 
rather  than  to  polity,  and,  in  the  alliance  with 
Presbyterianism  outside  of  Connecticut,  it  had 
affiliated  without  attaching  much  weight  to  dif- 
ferences in  church  government.  Their  common 
interest,  at  first,  was  to  unite  against  a  pos- 
sible supremacy  of  the  Church  of  England,  and 
against  the  danger  to  their  own  churches  and  to 
good  government  from  the  increase  of  dissent- 
ers.   Later,  their  united  efforts  were  directed  to 


366    THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  RELIGIOUS 

forwarding  Christian  missions  in  order  that  the 
gospel  might  not  be  left  out  of  the  civilization 
on  the  frontier.  In  this  later  work,  they  had 
competitors  as  soon  as  the  Baptists  and  Metho- 
dists became  strongly  organized  bodies.  Accord- 
ingly Presbyterians  and  Congregationalists  still 
further  sank  their  differences  of  discipline  in  the 
Plan  of  Union  of  1801,  formed  for  the  further- 
ance of  the  mission  work.  Thus  it  was  many 
years  before  questions  of  polity  again  took  front 
rank  in  the  Congregational  churches.  Already 
their  very  indifference  to  it,  the  long  years  of  the 
gradual  abandonment  of  the  Saybrook  system, 
together  with  the  development  in  civil  life  of  a 
broader  conception  of  humanity,  had  tended  to 
bring  back  the  independence  of  the  individual 
church,  while  custom  had  preserved  the  inrooted 
principle  of  church-fellowship.  It  needed  only 
Nathaniel  Emmons  to  embody  practice  and  opin- 
ion in  a  system  that  should  break  away  from  the 
aristocratic  Congregationalism,  the  semi-Presby- 
terianized  Congregationalism  of  the  eighteenth 
century,  and  give  to  the  nineteenth  a  democracy 
in  the  Church  equivalent  to  that  in  the  State. 
Emmons,  however,  carried  his  theory  to  extremes  ° 

"  "  A  pure  democracy  which  places  every  member  of  the 
church  upon  a  level  and  gives  him  perfect  liberty  with  order.'' 
Under  such  a  definition  of  a  church  as  this,  its  pastor  becomes 


LIBERTY  IN  CONNECTICUT  367 

when  opposing  ministerial  associations  ;  yet  with 
some  modifications  modern  Congregationalism 
is  essentially  that  of  his  school.  Church  polity, 
however,  did  not  become  a  topic  of  general  inter- 
est for  at  least  half  a  century  more,  nor  was  it 
formulated  anew  until  the  Albany  Convention  of 
1862  passed  "upon  the  local  work  and  respon- 
sibility of  a  Congregational  Church." 

From  the  politico-ecclesiastical  point  of  view, 
the  legislative  measures  in  the  history  of  Con- 
necticut, during  the  fifteen  years  after  the  colony 
became  a  state,  that  are  of  chief  importance  are 
the  Certificate  Laws  and  Western  Land  bills. 
In  order  to  properly  appreciate  their  significance 
this  summary  of  the  industrial,  social,  and  reli- 
gious life  of  the  Connecticut  people  during  the 
years  following  the  Revolution  was  necessary. 

only  a  moderator  at  its  meetings,  and  every  church  is  abso- 
lutely independent.  It  would  follow  that  from  its  decisions 
there  could  be  no  appeal.  Emmons  was  fond  of  declaring  that 
"  Association  leads  to  Consociation ;  Consociation  leads  to 
Presbyterianism ;  Presbyterianism  leads  to  Episcopacy ;  Epis- 
copacy to  Roman  Catholicism,  and  Roman  Catholicism  is  an 
ultimate  fact." 

In  spite  of  his  teaching  as  to  democracy,  Emmons  was  as 
intolerant  of  it  in  the  State  as  he  was  earnest  for  it  in  the 
Church. 


CHAPTER  XIII 

CERTIFICATE   LAWS    AND    WESTERN    LAND  BILLS 

And  make  the  bounds  of  Freedom  wider  yet. 

Axfred  Tennyson. 

The  legal  recognition  of  conscience,  the  acknow- 
ledgment of  fundamental  dogmas  held  in  com- 
mon, the  gradual  approachment  of  the  various 
religious  organizations  in  polity,  their  common 
interest  in  education  and  good  government, 
would  seem  to  furnish  grounds  for  such  mutual 
esteem  that  the  government  would  willingly  do 
away  with  the  objectionable  certificates.  On  the 
contrary,  the  old  conception  of  a  state  church, 
and  of  its  value  to  the  body  politic,  was  so 
strongly  intrenched  in  the  hearts  of  the  majority 
of  the  people  that  they  felt  it  incumbent  upon 
them  to  require  the  certificates  as  guarantees 
that  those  who  were  without  the  Establishment 
were  fulfilling  their  religious  duties.  Particu- 
larly was  this  the  case  when  new  sects  contin- 
ued to  increase  and  radical  opinions  to  spread 
among  the  masses.  And  as  the  government  saw 
these   apparently  destructive   ideas  permeating 


RELIGIOUS   LIBERTY  IN   CONNECTICUT    369 

the  people,  it  endeavored,  rather  unwisely,  to 
hem  dissent  in  closer  bounds,  and  to  favor  still 
more  Congregationalists  and  Presbyterian-Con- 
gregationalists. 

The  aggressively  successful  proselytizing  by 
the  Methodists  revived  the  old  dislike  of  rash  ex- 
horters  and  itinerant  preachers,  and  the  old  con- 
tempt for  an  ignorant  and  unlearned  ministry. 
The  proselytizing  movement  had  also  created  a 
suspicion  that  it  was  hypocritical,  and  that  it 
was  masking  a  deliberate  attempt  to  undermine 
the  Establishment.  Outside  this  Methodist  pro- 
paganda there  were  also  all  sorts  of  unorthodox 
ideas  that  were  spreading  notions  of  Universal- 
ism,  Arianism,  deism,  atheism,  and  freethinking, 
and  making  many  converts.  These  proselytes 
were  frequent  among  the  untutored  and  irre- 
sponsible members  of  society  who  caught  at  the 
doctrines  of  greater  freedom,  and  sometimes  trans- 
lated them,  theoretically  at  least,  into  principles 
of  greater  personal  license  ;  and  where  they  did 
not  do  this,  the  authorities  felt  sure  that  they 
would  soon,  and  if  unrestrained  by  ecclesiastical 
law,  would  quickly  become  lawless,  first  in  reli- 
gious affairs  and  then,  as  a  consequence,  in  moral 
ones.  Not  only  in  this  radical  class,  but  among 
the  recognized  dissenters  and  among  a  minority 
of  other  religious  folk,  there  was  a  tendency  to 


370    THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  RELIGIOUS 

question  both  the  authority  and  the  justice  of  the 
government  in  its  restrictive  religious  laws,  its 
ecclesiastical  taxation,  and  its  Sabbath-day  legis- 
lation. Particularly  was  there  opposition  to  the 
fine  for  absence  from  public  worship  on  Sunday, 
unless  excused  by  weighty  reasons,  and  to  the 
assessment  upon  every  one  of  a  tax  for  the  sup- 
port of  some  form  of  recognized  public  worship, 
even  though  the  tax-payer  had  no  personal  inter- 
est or  liking  for  that  which  he  was  obliged  to 
support.  The  feeling  that  such  injustice  ought 
not  to  continue  was  strong  among  some  members 
of  the  Establishment.  They  found  a  powerful 
advocate  in  Judge  Zephaniah  Swift  of  Wind- 
ham, the  author  of  the  "  System  of  the  Laws  of 
the  State  of  Connecticut." 

Judge  Swift  was  a  thorough-going  Federal- 
ist, but  so  bitter  an  opponent  of  the  union  of 
Church  and  State  that  his  enemies,  and  even 
members  of  his  own  party,  taunted  him  with 
being  a  freethinker,  —  a  serious  charge  in  those 
days.  Nevertheless,  Judge  Swift  held  the  loyalty 
of  a  county  and  of  one  rather  tolerant  of  dis- 
sent. "  The  Phenix  or  Windham  Herald," 
founded  in  1790,  though  Federal  in  politics, 
became  Judge  Swift's  organ  ;  and  so  acceptable 
were  his  opinions,  taken  all  in  all,  to  the  com- 
munity, that  from  1787  to  1793  it  returned  this 


LIBERTY   IN   CONNECTICUT  371 

arch-enemy  of  the  Establishment  as  its  deputy 
to  the  House,  and  then  his  congressional  district 
honored  him  with  a  seat  in  the  national  council 
until  1799.  He  became  chief  justice  in  1806, 
and  died  in  1819,  having  lived  to  see  the  char- 
ter constitution  set  aside  and  Church  and  State 
divorced. 

The  small  Anti-Federal  party  in  the  state, 
though  making  but  very  few  converts  at  this  time, 
and  though  of  very  little  importance  politically, 
were  the  pronounced  advocates  of  a  wider  suf- 
frage, a  larger  tolerance,  and  of  radical  changes 
in  the  method  of  government.  The  last  they 
believed  necessary  before  any  great  improvement 
in  the  terms  of  the  franchise  or  in  those  of  reli- 
gious toleration  could  be  secured.  "  An  Address 
to  the  Baptists,  Quakers,  Eogerines,  and  all 
other  denominations  of  Christians  in  Connecti- 
cut, freed  by  law  from  supporting  what  has 
been  called  the  <•  Established  Religion,'  "  went 
the  rounds  of  the  newspapers  urging  continued 
resistance  to  the  support  of  any  religious  system 
that  enforced  a  tax.  The  "  Address "  closed 
with  the  cheerful  prediction  that,  as  their  num- 
bers were  increasing  very  rapidly,  they  might 
hope  yet  "  to  carry  the  vote  against  those  who 
have  put  on  haughty  airs  and  affected  to  treat 
us  as  their  inferiors." 


372    THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  RELIGIOUS 

Such  seething  opposition  among  various  classes 
induced  the  government  to  enact  some  special 
legislation ;  but  it  was  unfortunately  not  of  a 
conciliatory  character.  In  May,  1791,  a  law  was 
passed  varying  the  old  requirement  that  certifi- 
cates, after  being  signed  by  a  church  officer, 
should  be  lodged  with  the  Society  clerk,  to  the 
demand  that  they  be  signed  by  two  civil  officers, 
or,  where  there  was  only  one,  by  the  justice  of 
the  peace  of  the  town  in  which  the  dissenter 
lived.  Considering  that  the  justices  were  mostly 
Congregationalists,  the  enactment  amounted  to 
an  intrenchment  of  the  Standing  Order  at  the 
expense  of  the  dissenters.  With  these  officers 
lay  full  power  to  pass  upon  the  validity  of  the 
certificates  and  upon  the  honesty  of  intent  on  the 
part  of  the  persons  presenting  them.  The  certif- 
icates read :  — 

We  have  examined  the  claim  of who  says 

he  is  a  Dissenter  from  the  Established  Society  of 
and  hath  joined  himself  to  a  church  or  Congre- 
gation of  the  name  of ;  and  that  he  ordinarily 

attends  upon  the  public  worship  of  such  Church  or 
Congregation  ;  and  that  he  contributes  his  share  and 
proportion  toward  supporting  the  public  worship 
and  ministry  thereof,  do  upon  examination  find  that 
the  above  facts  are  true.  Dated 

Justice  of  the  Peace.182 


LIBERTY  IN  CONNECTICUT  373 

A  veritable  doubt,  spite,  malice,  prejudice,  or 
mistaken  zeal,  might  determine  the  granting  of 
the  certificate  to  the  dissenter. 

The  authorities  defended  this  measure  upon 
the  ground  that  it  was  the  civil  effect  of  preach- 
ing that  gives  the  civil  magistrate  jurisdiction. 
"  The  law,'*  they  said,  "has  nothmg  to  do  with 
conscience  and  principles."  183  They  further  de- 
clared that  there  were  persons  who  were  taking 
undue  advantage  of  the  certificate  exemptions, 
and  that  there  were  good  reasons  to  doubt  the 
validity  of  many  of  the  certificates. 

This  Certificate  Act  roused  the  dissenters 
throughout  the  state.  "  In  public  society  meet- 
ings and  in  speaking  universal  abroad,  sensible 
that  their  numbers  though  scattered  were  large," 
they  strove  to  create  a  sentiment  that  should 
send  to  the  next  legislature  a  "  body  of  repre- 
sentatives who  would  remember  their  petition 
and  see  that  equal  religious  liberty  should  be 
established." 

In  regard  to  the  certificates,  a  writer  in  the 
"  Courant "  exclaims :  — 

It  is  sometimes  said  that  the  giving  of  a  certifi- 
cate once  a  year  or  once  in  a  man's  life  is  but  a  trifle, 
and  none  but  the  obstinate  will  refuse  it  as  none  but 
the  covetous  desire  it.  True  it  is  but  a  trifle  —  ten 
times  as  much  would  be  but  a  trifle  if  it  was  right. 


374    THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  RELIGIOUS 

If  it  must  be  done,  let  them  who  plead  for  it  do  the 
little  trifle  ;  they  have  no  scruples  of  conscience  about 
it.  .  .  .  The  certificate  law  is  as  much  worse  than 
the  tax  on  tea  as  religious  fetters  are  worse  than 
civil.184 

The  Rev.  John  Leland  V  The  Rights  of  Con- 
science inalienable  ;  therefore  Religions  Opinions 
not  cognizable  by  Law ;  Or  The  High  flying 
Churchman,  stript  of  his  legal  Robe  appears  a 
yaho  "  was  a  powerful  arraignment  of  the  gov- 
ernment and  defense  of  the  right  of  all  to 
worship  as  conscience  bade  them.  Leland  had 
recently  come  from  Virginia  and  settled  in  New 
London.  In  the  southern  state  he  had  been  one 
of  the  most  influential  among  the  Baptist  minis- 
ters and  a  great  power  in  politics.  In  Virginia 
he  had  seen  the  separation  of  Church  and  State 
in  1785,  and  had  witnessed  the  benefits  follow- 
ing that  policy.  After  the  publication  of  his 
"  Rights  of  Conscience  "  the  question  before  the 
Connecticut  people  became  one  of  establishment 
or  disestablishment,  because  Leland,  not  content 
with  showing  the  falsity  of  the  position  that  civil 
necessities  required  an  established  church,  or 
with  a  logical  demonstration  of  the  inalienable 
rights  of  conscience,  proceeded  to  boldly  attack 
the  Charter  of  Charles  II  as  being  in  no  right- 
ful sense  the  constitution  of  the  state  of  Con- 


LIBERTY   IN   CONNECTICUT  375 

necticut.  He  maintained  that,  "  Constitution  " 
though  it  was  called,  it  was  not  such,  because  it 
had  been  enforced  upon  the  people  by  a  mere  vote 
of  the  legislature  °  and  was  a  "  constitution  " 
never  "  assented  to  further  than  passive  obedi- 
ence and  non  resistance  "  by  the  people  at  large  ; 
a  constitution  — 

contrary  to  the  known  sentiments  of  a  far  greater 
part  of  the  States  in  the  Union ;  and  inconsistent 
with  the  clear  light  of  liberty,  which  is  spreading 
over  the  world  in  meridian  splendor,  and  dissipating 
those  antique  glooms  of  tyrannical  darkness  which 
were  ever  opposed  to  free,  equal,  religious  liberty 
among  men. 

Leland  arraigns  a  union  of  Church  and  State 
that  presupposes  a  need  of  legislative  support  for 
religion,  which  the  example  of  other  states  has 
proved  unnecessary ;  and  which  the  experience 
of  communities,  persisting  in  such  union,  has 
shown  to  be  productive  of  evil,  of  ignorance, 

a  The  vote  of  the  Assembly  was  :  "  That  the  ancient  form 
of  civil  government,  containing1  the  charter  from  Charles  the 
Second,  King  of  England,  and  adopted  by  the  people  of  this 
State,  shall  be  and  remain  the  Civil  Constitution  of  the  State 
under  the  sole  authority  of  the  people  thereof,  independent  of 
any  King,  or  Prince  whatever.  And  that  this  Republic  is  and 
shall  forever  be  and  remain  a  free,  sovereign,  and  independent 
State,  by  the  name  of  the  State  of  Connecticut."  —  Revision 
of  Acts  and  Laws,  Ed.  1784,  p.  1. 


376    THE   DEVELOPMENT  OF  RELIGIOUS 

superstition,  persecution,  lying  and  hypocrisy,  a 
weakness  to  the  civil  state,  and  a  conversion  of 
the  Bible  and  of  religion  to  tools  of  statecraft 
and  political  trickery. 

Government  has  no  more  to  do  with  religious  opin- 
ions of  men  than  it  has  with  the  principles  of  mathe- 
matics. .  .  .  Truth  disdains  the  aid  of  law  for  its 
defence,  ...  it  will  stand  upon  its  own  merit.  .  .  . 
Is  it  just  to  balance  the  Establishment  against  the 
rights  guaranteed  in  the  charter,  and  to  enact  a  law 
which  has  no  saving  clause  to  prevent  taxation  of  Jew, 
Turk,  Papist,  Deist,  Atheist,  for  the  support  of  a 
ministry  in  which  they  would  not  share  and  which 
violated  their  conscience  ?  186 

Many  Federalists  of  Judge  Swift's  type  sym- 
pathized with  Leland's  bold  arraignment  of  the 
Establishment,  if  not  with  his  view  of  the  uncon- 
stitutionality of  the  charter  government.  These 
men  repudiated  the  new  certificate  law. 

The  authorities  felt  that  they  had  gone  too 
far,  and  in  October,  1791,  after  an  existence  of 
only  six  months,  they  repealed  the  certificate  law 
by  one  hundred  and  five  yeas  to  fifty-seven  nays. 
The  new  law  that  was  substituted  permitted  each 
dissenter  to  write  his  own  certificate,  release,  or 
"  sign-off,"  as  the  papers  were  colloquially  called, 
and  required  him  to  file  it  with  the  clerk  of  the 
Established   Society  wherein   he  dwelt.186    This 


LIBERTY  IN  CONNECTICUT  377 

favor  was  not  so  great  a  privilege  as  it  seemed. 
It  bore  hard  upon  the  dissenters  in  two  ways.  It 
created  "  Neuters,"  people  who  wished  to  be  re- 
lieved from  the  ecclesiastical  taxes,  but  who  were 
too  indifferent  to  the  principles  and  welfare  of  the 
churches  to  which  they  allied  themselves  to  faith- 
fully support  them.  For  their  churches  to  com- 
plain of  such  persons  to  the  authorities  would 
only  give  the  latter  reasons  for  enforcing  the 
laws  for  the  support  of  the  Establishment.  Then 
again,  the  new  certificate  law  did  not  relieve  the 
dissenters  who  lived  too  far  from  their  churches 
to  ordinarily  attend  them  from  petty  fines  and 
from  court  wrangles  as  to  the  justice  of  them,  for 
with  the  judges  lay  the  determination  of  what  the 
words  "  far  "  and  "  near"  and  "  ordinarily  do  at- 
tend "  in  the  laws  meant.0  The  important  ques- 
tion of  how  many  absences  from  church  would 
prevent  a  man  from  claiming  that  he  was  a  regu- 
lar attendant  was  thus  left  in  the  hands  of  judges, 
who  were  for  the  most  part  prejudiced  or  partial. 
Many  amusing  and  exasperating  legal  quibbles 
occurred  in  the  courts  between  judges,  who  were 

a  "  Courts  and  juries  had  usually  been  composed  of  what  was 
considered  the  standing  church,  and  they  had  frequently  prac- 
ticed such  quibbles  and  finesse  with  respect  to  the  forms  of 
certificates  and  the  nature  of  dissenting-  congregations  as  to 
defeat  the  benevolent  intentions  of  the  law." — Swift's  System 
of  Laws,  pp.  146,  147. 


378     THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  RELIGIOUS 

determined  to  sentence  for  neglect  of  public  wor- 
ship, and  defendants,  who  were  equally  positive 
of  their  rights.  Many  dissenters  attempted  later 
to  ridicule  the  law  out  of  existence  by  substitut- 
ing for  the  formal  — 

I  certify  that  I  differ  in  sentiment  from  the  wor- 
ship and  ministry  in  the  ecclesiastical  society  of 


in  the  town  of constituted  by  law  within  certain 

local  bounds,  and  have  chosen  to  join  myself  to  the 
(Insert  here  the  name  of  society  you  have  joined)  in 

the  town  of . 

Dated  at this day  of A.  d. 

declarations,  undignified  in  wording  and  some- 
times written  in  doggerel  rhyme.  While  grant- 
ing the  new  certificate  law,  the  Assembly  were 
careful  to  pass  a  minor  ecclesiastical  statute 
enforcing  a  fine  of  from  six  to  twelve  shillings 
upon  all  who  should  neglect  to  observe  all  public 
fasts  and  thanksgivings.187  This  law  at  times 
proved  unsatisfactory  to  the  Episcopalians,  for 
the  Congregational  fasts  and  feasts  were  ap- 
pointed by  the  authorities,  who  naturally  did  not 
consider  the  Churchman's  feeling  when  called 
upon  to  celebrate  a  feast  or  thanksgiving  during 
an  Episcopalian  season  of  fasting,  or  to  observe 
a  public  fast,  to  go  m  sackcloth,  upon  an  anniver- 
sary that  should  be  marked  by  joy  and  praise. 
In  1792,  the  year  following  the  attempt  to 


LIBERTY  IN  CONNECTICUT  379 

remodel  the  certificate  laws,  certain  legislative 
measures  with  reference  to  Yale  College  fed  the 
discontent  among  the  dissenting  sects.  For  some 
years  there  had  been  an  increasing  dissatisfac- 
tion with  the  management  of  the  college.  It 
culminated  in  1792  in  the  reorganization  of  the 
governing  board,  to  which  were  added  eight 
civilians,  including  the  governor,  lieutenant-gov- 
ernor, and  the  six  senior  councilors  or  state  sen- 
ators. At  the  same  time,  and  in  consideration  of 
the  admission  of  laymen  to  the  board,  $40,000 
was  given  to  the  college.0  This  money  was  a  part 
of  the  taxes  which  had  been  collected  to  meet  the 
expenses  of  the  Revolutionary  war,  and  which 
were  in  the  state  treasury  when  the  United  States 
government  offered  to  refund  the  state  for  such 
expense.  It  was  granted  to  the  college  on  con- 
dition that  she  should  invest  it  in  the  new  United 
States  bonds,  and  that  half  the  profits  of  the  in- 
vestment should  be  at  the  disposal  of  the  state. 
This  arrangement  relieved  the  crippled  finances 
of  the  college  and  gratified  many  of  its  friends. 
But  there  were  many  who  regarded  the  measure 
as  out-and-out  favoritism  to  a  Congregational 
college,  and  who  put  no  faith  in  the  proposed 
half-sharing  of    profits.    They  maintained  that 

°  Yale  received  in  all  $40,629.80.   In  1871,  six  alumni  re- 
placed the  six  senior  councilors. 


380    THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  RELIGIOUS 

eventually  the  college  would  get  the  whole  ben- 
efit of  the  money  that  had  been  collected  for 
other  purposes,  and  from  many  persons  who 
could  derive  no  benefit  from  such  a  disposal  of 
it.  These  prophets  were  not  far  wrong,  for  after 
Yale  had  paid  into  the  state  treasury  a  little 
more  than  $  13,000  she  was  relieved  from  further 
payments  by  a  repeal,  in  1796,  of  the  conditional 
clause  of  the  grant. 

This  favoritism  to  Yale  was  not  the  only  legis- 
lation to  anger  the  dissenters,  and  especially  the 
Baptists.  Another  measure,  mooted  at  the  same 
time  as  the  certificate  acts  and  the  special  grant 
to  the  college,  was  accepted  as  a  further  mark 
of  the  government's  determination  to  ignore  the 
rights  of  dissenters.  In  1785-86  the  Assembly 
had  granted  lands  for  the  support  of  the  Gospel 
ministry,  for  schools,  and  to  the  first  minister 
to  settle  in  each  township  of  the  Western  Re- 
serve. This  act,  as  has  been  shown,  was  con- 
sidered to  unduly  favor  the  Presbyterians.  But 
little  had  come  of  this  legislation  beyond  the 
survey  of  the  land  and  the  opening  of  a  land 
office  there  for  its  sale.  Five  years  later,  in 
1791,  even  though  no  part  of  the  tract  had  been 
sold,  the  Assembly  introduced  a  new  bill  appro- 
priating the  anticipated  proceeds  from  the  sale 
of  the  land  to  the  several  ecclesiastical  societies 


LIBERTY   IN  CONNECTICUT  381 

as  a  fund  with  which  to  pay  their  ministers  so 
as  to  enable  them  to  do  away  with  the  tax  for  sala- 
ries. But  the  excitement  roused  by  the  first  cer- 
tificate law  —  of  1791  —  was  so  great  that  it  was 
deemed  prudent  to  continue  this  Western  Land 
bill  over  to  the  next  session  of  the  legislature, 
and  there  it  was  lost.  The  session  of  May,  1792, 
contented  itself  with  only  such  legislation  in  re- 
gard to  the  Western  Eeserve  as  that  by  which 
it  granted  the  "  Fire  Lands,"  so  called,  a  grant 
of  500,000  acres  as  indemnity  to  the  citizens  of 
New  London,  Groton,  Fairfield,  Norwalk,  and 
Danbury,  for  the  destruction  of  their  property  in 
the  burning  of  their  towns  by  British  troops. 

As  the  lands  of  the  Western  Reserve  did  not 
sell  well,a  the  Assembly,  in  1793,  appointed  a 
committee  to  dispose  of  the  tract  to  the  highest 
bidder  if  the  amount  offered  should  be  duly  guar- 
anteed with  interest ;  principal  and  interest  pay- 
able to  the  state  within  four  or  six  years,  whether 
paid  in  lump  sum  on  demand,  or  by  installments. 
The  sale  was  widely  advertised  both  within  and 
without  the  state.  It  was  now  calculated  that  the 
amount  realized  from  the  sale  of  the  lands  would 
be  a  sum  yielding  an  annual  interest  of  $ 60,000, 
or  an  average  of  $600  to  a  town,  beside  a  bonus 

a  So  far  the  highest  bid  for  the  tract  of  land  had  been 

$350,000. 


382    THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  RELIGIOUS 

to  Yale  of  $8000.  Therefore,  the  Assembly,  in 
October,  1793,  voted  that  — 

moneys  arising  from  the  sale  of  the  territory  be- 
longing to  the  State,  lying  west  of  the  state  of  Penn- 
sylvania, be,  and  the  same  is  hereby  established  a 
perpetual  fund,  the  interest  whereof  is  granted,  and 
shall  be  appropriated  to  the  use  and  benefit  of  the 
several  ecclesiastical  societies,  churches,  congregations 
of  all  denominations  in  this  State,  to  be  by  them 
applied  to  the  support  of  their  respective  ministers  or 
preachers  of  the  Gospel,  and  schools  of  education, 
under  such  rules  and  regulations  as  shall  be  adopted 
by  this  or  some  future  session  of  the  General  As- 
sembly.188 

An  earlier  bill  had  been  proposed,  discussed, 
and  tabled.  This  act  was  originally  a  resolution 
framed  by  a  large  committee  whose  members 
represented  both  the  friends  and  opponents  of 
the  proposal  for  the  immediate  sale  of  the  lands. 
When  the  vote  passed,  it  was  by  eighty-three 
yeas  to  seventy  nays  in  the  House  and  by  a  large 
and  favorable  majority  in  the  Council. 

One  fault  that  the  dissenters  found  with  the 
law  was  that,  under  the  rules  and  regulations 
adopted  by  the  Assembly,  they  believed  that  the 
alternative  which  the  law  allowed  of  voting  the 
money  to  the  ministerial  fund,  or  to  the  school, 
would  work  to  their  disadvantage.    Where  there 


LIBERTY  IN  CONNECTICUT  383 

were  few  dissenters,  the  Presbyterian  vote  would 
carry  the  money  over  to  the  minister's  use,  and 
where  there  were  many,  the  same  vote  would  be 
sufficient,  if  thrown,  as  it  probably  would  be,  to 
direct  the  money  to  the  school  appropriation.  It 
would  follow  that  the  dissenters  might  never 
have  the  use  of  the  money  for  the  support  of 
their  own  worship. 

The  Baptists  voiced  the  general  opposition 
among  the  dissenters,  —  an  opposition  so  strong 
that  it  appealed  to  some  of  the  conservatives  as 
sufficient  reason  in  itself  to  condemn  the  law. 
"  A  Friend  to  Society  "  wrote  to  the  "  Hartford 
Courant"  that  — 

if  a  religion  whose  principles  are  universal  love  and 
harmony  is  to  be  supported  and  promoted  by  a  means 
which  will  blow  up  the  sparks  of  faction  and  party 
strife  into  a  violent  flame,  it  is  a  new  way  of  promot- 
ing religion.  Much  better  would  it  be  for  the  State 
of  Connecticut  that  their  Western  Lands  should  be 
sunk  by  an  earthquake  and  form  part  of  the  adjoin- 
ing lake  than  that  they  should  be  transplanted  hither 
for  a  bone  of  contention. 

Apart  from  sectarian  interests,  the  law  met 
with  hostility.  There  were  those  who  thought 
that  the  money  ought  to  be  applied  at  once  to 
the  remaining  indebtedness  of  the  state,  rather 
than  for  it  to  wait  for  another  installment  on 


384    THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  RELIGIOUS 

the  Revolutionary  debt  that  was  still'  due  from 
the  national  government.  There  were  more  who 
thought  that  the  money  ought  to  go  for  the  ex- 
penses of  government,  or  for  direct  advantages, 
such  as  the  repair  of  bridges  and  highways.  But 
the  expenses  of  government  were  light,0  and,  as 

°  The  annual  expenses  were  estimated  to  be  approximately 
$90,000.  In  Advice  to  Connecticut  Folks,  1786,  occurs  the  fol- 
lowing estimate : — 

Necessary  Unnecesy 

Governor's  salary,  £300         £300 

Lieutenant-Governor's,  100  100 

Upper  House  attendance  and  travel  60  days  at 
£10  per  day,  600  600 

Lower  House  attendance  and  travel  170  mem- 
bers at  65.  a  day,  60  days,  3,060         1,530      £1,530 

Five  Judges  of  the  Superior  Court  at  245.  a 
day,  suppose  150  days,  900  900 

Forty  Judges  of  Inferior  Court  at  95.  a  day, 
suppose  40  days,  720  720 

Six  thousand  actions  in  the  year,  the  legal  ex- 
penses of  each,  suppose  £3, 

Gratuities  to  120  lawyers,  suppose  £50  each, 

Two  hundred  clergymen  at  £100  each, 

Five  hundred  schools  at  £20  a  year, 

Support  of  poor, 

Bridges  and  other  town  expenses, 

Contingencies  and  articles  not  enumerated, 

Total,  £89,680    £66,150     £23,530 

As  a  glimpse  at  society,  it  may  be  added  that  the  Advice 
itself  is  an  energetic  and  statistical  condemnation  of  the  pre- 
valent use  of  "  Rum,"  estimated  at  £90,000  or  "  ninety-nine 
hundredths  unnecessary  expense  "  in  living.  "  Deny  it  if  you 
can,  good  folks.  Now  say  not  a  word  about  taxes,  Judges, 
lawyers,  courts  and  women's  extravagances.  Your  government, 
your  courts,  your  lawyers,  your  clergymen,  your  schools  and 
your  poor,  do  not  all  cost  you  so  much  as  one  paltry  article 
which  does  you  little  or  no  good  but  is  as  destructive  of  your 


18,000 

1,000 

17,000 

6,000 

1,000 

5,000 

20,000 

20,000 

10,000 

10,000 

10,000 

10,000 

10,000 

10,000 

10,000 

10,000 

LIBERTY  IN  CONNECTICUT  385 

a  rule,  the  people  were  willing  to  keep  the  high- 
ways in  repair.  There  was  still  another  party 
who  contended  that  the  money  should  go  for 
schools,  both  because  they  were  needed  in  larger 
numbers,  and  because  they  ought  to  be  able 
to  pay  larger  salaries  and  not  ones  so  small  as  to 
tempt  only  the  farmer  lad,  or  the  ambitious  stu- 
dent, to  keep  a  country  school  for  a  few  months 
in  winter,  or  a  somewhat  similarly  equipped 
woman  to  teach  in  summer.  And  there  was  yet 
another  party  who  were  convinced  that  the  money 
should  go  to  the  support  of  the  ministry,  for 
they  believed  that  morality  could  be  taught  only 
by  religion,  and  that  the  people  were  losing  in- 
terest in  the  latter  because  of  the  inferiority  of 
the  preachers  whom  the  small  salaries  and  inse- 
cure support  kept  in  the  field.189 

While  this  discussion  of  certificate  laws,  of 
grants  to  Yale,  and  of  grants  of  land  and  money 
to  the  ecclesiastical  societies  had  been  constantly 
before  the  public,  there  had  also  been  present  a 
minor  grievance  due  to  the  Assembly's  interest 

lives  as  fire  and  brimstone."  —  Noah  Webster's  Collection  of 
Essays,  pp.  137-139. 

The  evil  was  beginning  to  be  recognized  in  all  its  danger. 
Here  and  there  voluntary  temperance  clubs  were  beginning  to 
be  formed  among  the  better  classes,  but  it  was  a  time  when 
hardly  a  contract  was  closed  without  a  stipulation  of  a  certain 
quantity  of  rum  for  each  workman. 


38G     THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  RELIGIOUS 

in  the  missionary  work  that  the  General  Associ- 
ation had  extended  to  include  parts  of  Vermont, 
western  New  York,  Pennsylvania,  and  the  out- 
lying settlements  in  Ohio.  In  the  western  field 
the  missionaries  sent  by  Connecticut  frequently 
met  those  sent  out  by  the  Presbyterian  General 
Assembly.  Drawn  together  by  their  interests  in 
these  missions  in  1794,  the  practice  was  begun 
of  having  three  delegates  from  the  General  As- 
sociation meet  with  the  Presbyterian  General 
Assembly  in  their  annual  convention,  and  three 
delegates  from  the  General  Assembly  take  their 
seats  in  the  yearly  convocation  of  the  General 
Association  of  Connecticut.  So  long  as  the  Con- 
necticut churches  were  strongly  Presbyterian  in 
sentiment,  there  was  no  clashing  of  interests 
among  the  workers  in  the  mission  field.  Natu- 
rally, Connecticut  wanted  to  do  her  full  share  of 
missionary  work  ;  and  feeling  the  need  of  more 
money  for  the  purpose,  the  General  Association, 
in  1792,  appealed  to  the  legislature  for  permis- 
sion to  take  up  an  annual  collection  for  three 
years.  The  Association  hesitated  to  take  up  such 
a  collection  in  all  the  churches,  dissenting  or 
Established,  without  such  permission.  The  Bap- 
tists expressed  their  indignation  at  the  wording 
of  Governor  Huntington's  proclamation,  "that 
there  be  a  contribution  taken  up  in  every  con- 


LIBERTY   IN   CONNECTICUT  387 

gregation  for  the  support  of  the  Presbyterian 
Missions  in  the  western  territory."  More  than 
that,  they  refused  to  contribute,  on  the  ground 
that  if  the  collection  had  been  "  recommended  '' 
they  would  gladly  have  helped  a  Christian  cause, 
but  that  it  was  inexpedient  to  yield  to  a  demand 
that  all  societies  should  contribute  to  the  sup- 
port of  missions  that  were  entirely  under  the 
control  of  one  religious  body.  Furthermore,  with 
reference  to  the  appropriation  of  money  from 
the  Western  Lands,  they  would  join  with  other 
dissenters  in  opposing  it,  on  the  ground  that,  in 
order  to  obtain  their  share  of  the  money,  they 
would  have  to  admit  their  inferiority  through  the 
showing  of  the  compulsory  certificates.  More- 
over, even  the  scant  favor  secured  through  these 
was  in  danger  from  the  continual  favoritism  of 
the  legislature,  with  its  treasury  open  at  all  times 
to  its  Congregational  college,  and  with  its  enact- 
ments in  favor  of  the  Established  Churches. 

At  the  May  session  of  the  Assembly,  1794, 
the  Baptists  from  all  over  the  state  thronged  the 
steps  of  the  capitol  at  Hartford,  angered  almost 
to  the  point  of  precipitating  civil  war.  There 
John  Leland  addressed  them,  urging  the  neces- 
sity of  government ;  the  power  of  constitutional 
reform ;  arguing  for  rights  of  conscience,  citing 
both   European   and   colonial    history   to   prove 


388     THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  RELIGIOUS 

their  reasonableness  and  their  value  to  the  body 
politic ;  and  setting  forth  Connecticut's  depar- 
ture from  the  glorious  freedom  mapped  out  by 
her  founders.  He  declared  to  that  great  and 
angry  crowd :  — 

Government  is  a  necessary  evil  and  so  a  chosen 
good.  Its  business  is  to  preserve  the  life,  liberty  and 
property  of  the  many  units  that  form  the  body  pol- 
itic. .  .  .  When  a  constitution  of  government  is 
formed,  it  should  be  simple  and  explicit ;  the  powers 
that  are  vested  in,  and  work  to  be  performed  by  each 
department  should  be  denned  with  the  utmost  per- 
spicuity ;  and  this  constitution  should  be  attended 
to  as  scrupulously  by  men  in  office  as  the  Bible 
should  be  by  all  religionists.  .  .  .  Let  the  people 
first  be  convinced  of  the  deficiency  of  the  constitu- 
tion, and  remove  the  defects  thereof,  and  then,  those 
in  office  can  change  the  administration  upon  consti- 
tutional grounds. 

[The  right  to  worship]  God  according  to  the  dic- 
tates of  conscience,  without  being  prohibited,  directed 
or  controlled  therein  by  human  law,  either  in  time, 
place  or  manner,  cannot  be  surrendered  up  to  the 
general  government  for  an  equivalent.190 

Had  not  Governor  Haynes  said  to  Roger 
Williams,  "  The  Most  High  God  hath  provided 
and  cut  ou£  this  part  of  the  world  for  a  refuge 
and   receptacle   for   all    sorts  of  consciences?" 


LIBERTY  IN  CONNECTICUT  389 

How  had  not  Connecticut  fallen  ?  How  passed 
her  ancient  glory,  how  ignored  her  charter's 
rights  ?  How  firm  a  grip  upon  her  had  that  incu- 
bus of  her  own  raising,  the  pernicious  union  of 
Church  and  State  ?  Break  that,  as  elsewhere  it 
had  been  broken,  and  then  as  freemen  demand  a 
constitution  guaranteeing  both  civil  and  religious 
liberty. 

The  result  of  the  widespread  hostility  was  the 
attempt  at  the  May  session  of  1794  to  repeal 
the  offensive  law.  The  Lower  House  did  repeal 
it,  after  a  lively  debate,  by  a  vote  of  109  yeas 
to  58  nays,  but  the  Council,  or  Upper  House, 
where  the  conservatives  were  intrenched,  refused 
to  pass  the  bill.  However,  they  were  induced  to 
pass  a  resolution  suspending  the  sale  of  the 
lands.  The  debate  in  the  House  was  published 
verbatim  in  the  "  Hartford  Gazette  "  of  May  19, 
1794,  and  was  copied  by  the  papers  throughout 
the  state.  In  the  following  October  a  bill  was 
passed  by  the  Council,  but  continued  over  by 
the  House  and  ordered  to  be  printed  in  all  the 
papers,  that  the  people  might  have  opportunity 
to  consider  it  before  it  should  come  up  to  be 
passed  upon  by  their  representatives  in  the  May 
session  of  1795.191  The  terms  of  the  bill  were 
that  the  principal  sum  of  money  received  from 
the  sale  of  the  Western  Lands  should  be  appor- 


390    THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  RELIGIOUS 

tioned  among  the  several  school  societies  accord- 
ing to  the  list  of  polls  and  rateable  estates,  and 
that  the  interest  arising  from  the  money  so 
divided  should  be  appropriated  to  the  support  of 
schools  that  were  kept  according  to  the  law,  or 
to  the  support  of  the  public  worship  of  God  and 
the  Christian  ministry,  "  as  the  majority  of  the 
legal  voters  should  annually  determine."  192 

The  proposed  law  was  subjected  to  public 
scrutiny  of  all  sorts.  It  was  agitated  in  town 
meetings,  and  the  discussions  for  and  against  it 
were  noticed  in  the  newspapers,  where  much  space 
was  given  to  its  consideration.  Ministers  made 
it  the  subject  of  their  sermons.  Dr.  Dwight  dis- 
coursed upon  the  subject  in  his  Thanksgiving 
sermon.193  When  the  proposed  bill  came  up  be- 
fore the  legislature,  it  encountered  considerable 
opposition,  but  after  some  modifications  it  became 
a  law.  As  in  school  societies  the  dissenters  had 
an  equal  vote,  and  in  all  town  affairs  were  worth 
conciliating,  there  was  more  justice  in  the  new 
law  than  in  the  old,  where  the  ecclesiastical  so- 
ciety was  made  the  unit  of  division.  From  1717 
to  1793  the  towns,  parishes,  and  occasionally  the 
ecclesiastical  societies  had  charge  of  the  schools.194 
But  in  1794  school  districts  were  authorized  and 
the  change  to  them  begun.  Such  districts  could, 
upon  the  vote  of  two  thirds  of  all  the  qualified 


LIBERTY  IN  CONNECTICUT  391 

voters,  locate  schools,  lay  taxes  to  build  and  re- 
pair them,  and  appoint  a  collector  to  gather  such 
rates.  The  act  of  May,  1795,  appropriating  the 
money  from  the  Western  Lands  to  the  schools, 
provided  also  that  the  school  districts  should  be 
erected  into  school  societies  to  whom  the  money 
should  be  distributed,  and  by  whom  the  interest 
thereon  should  be  expended ;  and  that  it  should 
go  "to  no  other  Use  or  Purpose  whatsoever; 
except  in  the  Case  and  under  the  circumstances 
hereafter  mentioned."  The  circumstances  here 
referred  to  were  in  cases  where  two  thirds  of  the 
legal  voters  in  a  school  society  meeting,  legally 
warned,  voted  to  use  the  interest  money  for  the 
support  of  the  ministry  in  that  Society,  and  ap- 
pealed to  the  General  Assembly  for  permission 
to  so  use  the  money.  Upon  such  an  expression 
of  the  wish  of  voters,  the  General  Assembly  was 
empowered  to  answer  in  the  affirmative.  The 
act  also  repealed  that  of  1793.  The  legislature 
appointed  another  commission  for  the  sale  of  the 
lands.  They  were  sold  in  the  following  October 
for  11,200,000.  By  this  legislation  was  laid  the 
foundation  of  Connecticut's  School  Fund.  The 
Connecticut  Land  Company,  which  had  made 
the  purchase,  petitioned  the  legislature  in  1797 
that  Connecticut  should  surrender  her  jurisdic- 
tion over  the  lands  to  the  United  States.    The 


392    RELIGIOUS    LIBERTY   IN   CONNECTICUT 

state  complied.  In  1798  the  organization  of  the 
new  school  societies  was  perfected,  and  the  con- 
trol of  the  schools  passed  entirely  into  their  hands 
until  the  district  system  of  1856  was  adopted. 

The  Western  Land  bills  had  resulted  in  the 
establishment  of  a  public  school  fund  and  in  its 
just  distribution,  without  reference  to  sectarian- 
ism, among  the  people.  All  the  agitation  attend- 
ing both  the  certificate  acts  and  Western  Land 
bills  had  demonstrated  the  intense  opposition  of 
the  dissenting  minority,  and  that  they  were  be- 
ginning to  look  to  the  increase  of  their  numbers 
and  the  power  of  the  ballot  as  the  only  means  of 
changing  the  vexatious  laws  under  which  they 
were  treated  as  inferiors.  To  the  Congregation- 
alists,  strong  both  as  the  Established  Church  and 
as  members  of  the  Federal  party,  which  counted 
many  adherents  among  all  the  dissenting  sects, 
the  possibility  that  any  voting  strength  could 
be  brought  against  them,  adequate  to  oppose  their 
party  measures,  seemed  improbable.  Such  a  pos- 
sibility must  be  very  remote.  Yet  within  twenty 
years,  they  were  to  see  the  downfall  of  the  Fed- 
eral party,  of  the  Established  Church,  and  of 
Connecticut's  charter  government. 


CHAPTER   XIV 

POLITICAL    PARTIES    IN    CONNECTICUT   AT   THE 
BEGINNING   OF   THE   NINETEENTH   CENTURY 

As  well  dam  up  the  waters  of  the  Nile  with  Bullrushes  as 
to  fetter  the  steps  of  Freedom.  —  L.  M.  Child. 

Leland's  attack  upon  the  constitution  of  Con- 
necticut during  the  excitement  over  the  Western 
Land  bills  called  for  new  tactics  on  the  part  of 
the  dissenters.  Thus  far,  in  all  their  antagonism 
to  the  union  of  Church  and  State,  there  had  been 
on  their  part  practically  no  attack  upon  the  con- 
stitution itself.  Yet  even  as  early  as  1786  the 
Anti-Federalists  had  proclaimed  that  the  state 
of  Connecticut  was  without  a  constitution ;  that 
the  charter  government  fell  with  the  Declaration 
of  Independence  ;  and  that  its  adoption  by  the 
legislature  as  a  state  constitution  was  an  unwar- 
ranted excess  of  authority.  The  Anti-Federalists 
maintained  also  that  many  of  the  charter  pro- 
visions were  either  outgrown  or  unsuited  to  the 
needs  of  the  state.  But  the  majority  of  the  dis- 
senters, like  the  Constitutional  Reform  party  of 
recent   date,  preferred   redress   for   their  griev- 


394    THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  RELIGIOUS 

ances  through  legislation  rather  than  through 
the  uprooting  of  an  ancient  and  cherished  con- 
stitution. Accordingly,  it  was  not  until  the  elec- 
tions of  1804-6  that  this  question  of  a  new 
constitution  could  reasonably  be  made  a  cam- 
paign issue.  But  from  1793  the  dissenters  began 
to  lean  towards  affiliation  with  the  Democratic- 
Republican0  party,  the  successors  to  the  Anti- 
Federal  ;  yet  it  was  not  until  toward  the  close  of 
the  War  of  1812  that  the  Republican  party  made 
large  gains  in  Connecticut  and  the  dissenters 
began  to  feel  sure  that  the  dawn  of  religious 
liberty  was  at  hand.  But  before  that  time  the 
Republicans  made  three  distinct  though  abortive 
attempts  to  secure  the  electoral  power. 

The  Anti-Federalists  early  began  to  probe  for 
weak  spots  in  the  constitutional  government  of 
Connecticut.  The  Fundamental  Orders  had  given 
four  deputies  to  each  of  the  three  original  towns, 
and  had  made  the  number  of  deputies  from  each 
new  town  proportionate  to  its  population.  The 
Charter  had  limited  the  deputies  to  two  from 
each  town.  The  Fundamental  Orders  gave  the 
General  Court,  composed  of  Governor,  Magis- 
trates or  Assistants,  and  Deputies,  supreme  gov- 

a  This  party,  called  for  short  "  Repuhlican,"  stood  for  the 
principles  known  as  "democratic,"  —  the  appellation  of  the 
party  itself  since  1828.    This  was  the  school  of  Jefferson. 


LIBERTY  IN  CONNECTICUT  395 

erning  power,  including,  together  with  that  of 
legislation,  the  granting  of  levies,  the  admission 
of  freemen,  the  disposal  of  public  lands,  and  the 
organization  of  courts.  It  had  also  a  general 
supervision  over  individuals,  magistrates,  and 
courts,  with  power  to  revise  decisions  and  to 
mete  out  punishments.  The  Charter  of  1662  did 
not  materially  alter  the  laws  and  customs  of  the 
government  as  previously  established  under 
the  Fundamental  Orders,  or  the  "  first  written 
constitution."  The  Charter  emphasized  the  ex- 
ecutive, and  began  the  segregation  of  the  Upper 
House  or  Council,  since  by  it  the  "  Particular 
Court "  of  the  founders  became  the  Governor's 
Council,  serving  upon  like  occasions,  but  requir- 
ing the  presence  of  at  least  six  magistrates  for 
the  transaction  of  business.  The  Particular 
Court  had  consisted  of  the  Governor  or  Deputy- 
Governor,  and  three  Assistants.  In  emergencies 
occurring  during  adjournment  of  the  General 
Court,  the  Particular  Court  was  to  serve  in 
place  of  the  larger  body.  After  1647  this  spe- 
cial court  could  consist  of  two  or  three  magis- 
trates who,  in  the  absence  of  the  Governor  or 
Deputy-Governor,  chose  one  of  their  number  to 
act  as  moderator.  After  1662  the  formula  of 
the  General  Court  "Be  it  ordered,  enacted  and 
decreed  "  was  changed  to  "Be  it  enacted  by  the 


396    THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  RELIGIOUS 

Governor  and  Council  and  House  of  Represen- 
tatives in  General  Court  assembled."  At  the 
regular  session  of  the  General  Court  or  General 
Assembly,  the  Councilors  first  sat  as  a  separate 
body  in  1698.  After  the  Declaration  of  Inde- 
pendence this  Upper  House  or  Council  became 
the  Senate,  and  for  many  years  was  referred  to 
under  any  one  of  the  three  names. 

The  power,  of  the  General  Court  —  this  jum- 
ble of  legislative,  executive,  and  judicial  — 
worked  well  so  long  as  the  community  consisted 
of  a  few  hundred  or  a  few  thousand  souls  with 
little  diversity  of  sentiment  or  industrial  inter- 
est. It  was  not  until  the  last  quarter  of  the  eigh- 
teenth century  that  the  inefficiency  of  the  "  first 
written  constitution "  began  to  be  felt.  Then 
there  arose  the  need  of  a  new  constitution  to 
modify  the  body  of  laws  and  customs  that  had 
grown  up ;  to  destroy  much  of  the  erroneous 
legislation  that  in  effect  perverted  or  nullified 
their  original  intent ;  and  to  furnish  a  constitu- 
tional basis  for  the  government  of  a  larger  and 
less  homogeneous  people.  Here  and  there  a  few 
thoughtful  men,  irrespective  of  their  church  or 
party,  were  beginning  to  apprehend  the  diffi- 
culty of  piloting  a  democratic  state  under  the 
old  royal  charter.  The  more  prominent  among 
then]  belonged  to  the  Anti-Federal  party,  and 


LIBERTY   IN  CONNECTICUT  397 

naturally  they  sought  to  expose  the  constitu- 
tional difficulties  which  they  believed  impeded 
progress.0 

One  of  the  earliest  party  tilts  grew  out  of  the 
increase  of  new  towns  and  the  unequal  develop- 
ment of  some  of  the  older  ones.  Then  as  now, 
though  on  a  much  smaller  scale,  the  unit  of  town 
representation  threatened  rotten  boroughs  and  a 
fictitious  representation  of  the  will  of  the  major- 
ity as  represented  by  the  delegates  to  the  Lower 
House.  The  state  in  1786  had  not  recovered 
from  the  exhaustion  due  to  the  Revolutionary 
War,  and  the  support  of  the  many  new  deputies, 
due  to  the  increase  of  the  towns,  was  a  burden 
which  the  October  legislation  of  that  year  at- 
tempted to  lighten.  With  the  object  of  cutting 
down  state  expenses  a  bill  was  introduced  into 
the  House  to  refer  to  the  freemen  some  proposi- 

a  There  were  men  of  mark  among-  the  Anti-Federalist 
leaders,  such  as  William  Williams  of  Lebanon,  a  signer  of  the 
Declaration,  Gen.  James  Wadsworth  of  Durham,  and  Gen. 
Erastus  Wolcott  of  East  Windsor,  —  these  three  were  members 
of  the  Council ;  Dr.  Benjamin  Gale  of  Killing- worth,  Joseph 
Hopkins,  Esq.,  of  Waterbury,  Col.  Peter  Bulkley  of  Col- 
chester, Col.  William  Worthington  of  Saybrook,  and  Capt. 
Abraham  Granger  of  Suffield.  At  the  ratification  of  the  Con- 
stitutution  the  vote  stood  128  to  40.  Afterwards  for  about  ten 
years,  in  the  conduct  of  state  politics,  there  was  little  friction, 
for  in  local  matters  the  Anti-Federalists  were  generally  con- 
servatives. 


398    THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  RELIGIOUS 

tion  for  reducing  the  number  of  their  delegates 
and  for  equalizing  representation.  Mr.  James 
Davenport  of  Stamford  moved  to  substitute  for 
the  billa  another  in  which  this  reduction  should 
be  made  by  the  legislature  without  submitting 
the  proposed  change  to  the  freemen.  This  was 
objected  to  on  the  groimd  that  a  reduction  of 
delegates  was  a  constitutional  question,  "  the 
Assembly  having  no  right  to  alter  the  represen- 
tation without  authority  given  by  their  constit- 
uents." The  supporters  of  the  bill  contended 
with  Mr.  Davenport  that  — 

ice  have  no  Constitution  but  the  laws  of  the  State. 
The  Charter  is  not  the  Constitution.  By  the  Revo- 
lution that  was  abrogated.  A  law  of  the  State  gave 
a  subsequent  sanction  to  that  which  was  before  of  no 
force ;  if  that  law  be  valid,  any  alteration  made  by  a 
later  act  will  also  be  valid ;  if  not,  we  have  no  Con- 
stitution, so  denned,  as  to  preclude  the  Legislature 
from  exercising  any  power  necessary  for  the  good  of 
the  people. 

The  bill  was  carried  over  to  the  May  session 
of  1787,  when  it  was  defeated  by  sixty-two  yeas 
to  seventy-five  nays,  the  towns  of  Hartford,  East 

a  Two  deputies  were  allowed  every  town  rated  at  $60,000. 
In  L785  Oliver  Ellsworth  had  prepared  a  hill  limiting  towns  of 
£20,000  or  under  to  one  deputy.  It  passed  the  Senate,  hut 
was  defeated  in  the  House. —  The  Constitution  of  Connecticut, 
1901,  State  Series,  p.  105. 


LIBERTY  IN  CONNECTICUT  399 

Hartford,  Berlin,  Stamford  and  Woodbury  favor- 
ing it.  A  confidential  letter  of  February,  1787, 
from  Dr.  Gale,  the  probable  author  of  "  Brief, 
decent  but  free  Remarks  or  Observations  on 
Several  Laws  passed  by  the  Honorable  Legisla- 
ture of  the  State  of  Connecticut  since  the  year 
1775,  by  a  Friend  to  his  Country,"  suggested 
that  in  addition  to  the  reduction  of  representa- 
tives, laws  should  be  passed  forbidding  any  citi- 
zen to  hold,  at  the  same  time,  more  than  one 
place  of  public  trust,  either  civil  or  military,  and 
also  requiring  an  increase  in  the  number  of  coun- 
cilors, or  senators,  from  the  total  of  twelve  to 
three  from  each  county .a  Dr.  Gale  believed  that 
if  these  senators  should  be  elected  by  each  county, 
and  not  upon  a  general  ticket,  the  change  would 
be  beneficial.195 

In  regard  to  the  senators,  the  Fundamental 
Orders  prescribed  that  nominations  for  the  mag- 
istrates should  be  made  by  the  towns  through 
their  deputies  to  the  fall  session  of  the  General 

a  In  his  pamphlet  Dr.  Gale  advises  that  each  town  nomi- 
nate one  man,  and  from  the  nominations  in  each  county,  the 
General  Assembly  elect  two,  four  or  six  delegates  from  each 
county  to  meet  and  frame  a  new  constitution,  since  "  any  legis- 
lature is  too  numerous  a  body,  and  too  unskilled  in  the  science 
of  government  to  properly  perform  such  a  task  "  (p.  29).  — 
J.  Hammond  Trumbull,  Hist.  Notes  on  the  Constitution  of 
Conn.,  p.  17,  and  Wolcott's  Manuscript  in  Mass.  Hist.  Soc.  Col. 
vol.  iv. 


400    THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  RELIGIOUS 

Court,  and  that  the  election  should  take  place 
the  following  spring  at  the  Court  of  Elections. 
As  the  life  of  the  colony  expanded,  modifications 
of  this  rule  were  made ;  in  time,  vote  by  proxy 
took  the  place  of  the  freeman's  presence  at  the 
Court  of  Election.  After  1689,  the  Assistants 
to  be  nominated,  twenty  in  number,  were  balloted 
for  in  the  fall  town  meetings.  The  sealed  lists 
were  sent  to  the  legislature,  where  they  were 
opened,  and  the  ticket  for  the  spring  election 
was  made  out  from  the  twenty  names  receiving 
the  largest  vote.  The  Court  could  no  longer  as 
in  earlier  times  add  any  new  names.  Hence, 
the  custom  grew  up  of  listing  nominations,  not 
according  to  popularity,  but  first  according  to 
seniority  in  office,  and  then  according  to  the  num- 
ber of  votes  received.  These  lists  were  published 
in  the  papers  throughout  the  state.  The  candi- 
dates for  election  were  presented  at  the  April 
town  meetings,  where  each  name  was  read  in 
order  and  voted  upon.  A  much  later  enactment 
provided  twelve  ballots,  and  forbade  any  one  to 
cast  more  than  twelve,  whether  for  or  against  a 
candidate  or  in  blank.  If  a  man  held  any  one  of 
his  slips  in  reserve  for  a  more  satisfactory  can- 
didate, he  had  none  for  the  teller,  and  thus  the 
secrecy  of  the  ballot  was  almost  destroyed.  New 
candidates  or  those  not  up  for  reelection,  whose 


LIBERTY  IN  CONNECTICUT  401 

names  appeared  at  the  foot  of  the  list,  whatever 
the  number  of  votes  received,  were  sometimes 
kept  waiting  years  for  an  election,  until  those 
above  them  had  died  in  office  or  resigned."  For 
instance,  Jonathan  Ingersoll  received  4600  votes 
in  nomination  in  1792,  while  the  senior  coun- 
cilor, William  Williams,  had  only  2000  ;  yet 
Williams's  name  was  preferred,  and  Ingersoll's 
had  to  wait  over  another  year,  when  he  was 
again  nominated  and  elected,  and  held  his  seat 
from  1793  to  1798.  An  election  was  a  wearisome 
affair,  and  many  men  would  not  stay  until  the 
voting  upon  the  list  was  finished,  preferring  for 
various  reasons  to  cast  an  early  ballot.  The 
natural  tendency  was  to  support  the  experienced 
and  known,  even  if  indifferently  efficient  coun- 
cilor, rather  than  to  vote  for  an  untried  and 
unfamiliar  man  whose  name  would  come  up  later, 
or  even  for  popular  men  who  could  not  be  pro- 
posed until  far  into  the  day.  As  a  result  the 
party  in  power  felt  assured  of  their  continu- 
ance in  office.  Moreover,  proxies  for  the  election 
were  returned  in  April,  but  the  result  was  not 
announced  until  the  legislature  met  in  May,  nor 

a  A  similar  method  of  election  applied  to  the  representa- 
tives in  Congress.  Eighteen  names  were  voted  on  in  May  for 
nomination,  of  which  the  seven  highest  were  listed  for  election 
in  September. 


402    THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  RELIGIOUS 

was  there  any  supervision  compelling  an  honest 
count.  Thus  it  was  easy  to  keep  in  office  Federal 
candidates,  and  thus  the  Senate,  or  Council,  cam^ 
to  reflect  public  opinion  about  twenty  years  be- 
hind the  popular  sentiment.  Furthermore,  the 
clergy  of  the  Establishment  would  get  together 
and  talk  matters  over  before  the  elections,  and 
the  parish  minister  would  endeavor  to  direct  his 
people's  vote  according  to  his  opinion  of  what 
was  best  for  the  commonwealth.  This  ministerial 
influence  was  not  shaken  until  about  1817. 

There  was  still  another  grievance  against  the 
Council  besides  that  just  mentioned.  It  had  come 
to  be  almost  a  Privy  Council  for  advice  and  con- 
sultation. Furthermore  it  was,  until  1807,  the 
Supreme  Court  of  the  state  to  which  lay  appeals 
in  all  cases,  civil  or  criminal,  where  errors  of  law 
had  been  committed  in  the  trial  courts.  Its 
twelve  members  were  mostly,  if  not  all,  lawyers, 
holding  a  tremendous  power  of  patronage  over 
the  members  of  the  Lower  House,  many  of  whom 
were  also  lawyers,  eager  for  preferment ;  over  the 
courts  throughout  the  state,  from  which,  since 
1792,  the  old  non-professional  judges  had  been 
debarred ,  and  also  over  the  militia,  whose  offi- 
cers, from  the  earliest  times,  had  been  appointed 
by  the  General  Court.  Further,  the  united  action 
of  the  two  houses  was  necessary  to  pass  or  to 


LIBERTY  IN  CONNECTICUT  403 

repeal  a  law,  and  thus  much  important  legislation 
centred  upon  a  majority  of  seven  in  the  Council. 

Furthermore,  at  the  opening  of  the  nineteenth 
century,  the  courts  of  law  also  were  thought  to 
need  reorganizing.  The  judges  were  declared 
partisan,  as  they  naturally  would  be  under  the 
conditions  of  their  appointment.  The  Republicans 
could  not  meet  the  Federals  upon  an  equal  footing 
in  the  state  tribunals.  They  were  disparaged  in 
their  business  relations,  "  were  treated  as  a  de- 
graded party,  and  this  treatment  was  extended  to 
all  the  individuals  of  the  party  however  worthy 
or  respectable  ;  in  fact  as  the  Saxons  were  treated 
by  the  Normans  and  the  Irish  by  the  English 
government."  196 

Because  of  these  political  conditions,  early  in 
statehood,  there  were  three  schools  of  politicians ; 
namely,  those  who  approved  a  constitutional 
convention,  expressly  called  to  frame  a  new  con- 
stitution ;  those  who  wished  such  a  convention 
merely  to  amend  the  existing  charter-constitu- 
tion ;  and  those,  until  1800,  predominately  in 
the  majority,  who  were  convinced  that  whether 
the  state  had  a  constitution  or  not  was  a  most 
frivolous  and  baneful  question,  mooted  only  by 
"  visionary  theorists,"  or  by  those  who  were  de- 
sirous of  a  change,  no  matter  how  disastrous  it 
might  be  to  good  government.    The  conservative 


404    THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  RELIGIOUS 

party  held  that,  since  the  charter  had  been  drawn 
according  to  the  tenor  of  a  draft  submitted  by 
Winthrop  and  outlining  the  government  accord- 
ing to  the  Fundamental  Orders,  framed  in  1639 
by  the  "  inhabitants  and  residents  of  Hartford, 
Windsor  and  Wethersfield,"  the  charter  was 
not  a  grant  of  privileges  but  an  approval  asked 
and  obtained  for  a  government  already  existing. 
Consequently,  such  government  as  had  been 
exercised  before  and  was  continued  under  the 
charter  was  essentially  a  creation  of  the  people. 
It  therefore  needed  only  the  declarative  act  of 
the  legislature  to  annul  those  clauses  of  the 
charter  that  bound  the  colony  to  the  crown  and 
to  continue  over  into  statehood  the  government 
of  the  colonial  period.  Further,  granting  that 
the  separation  from  Great  Britain  annulled  the 
constitution,  the  subsequent  conduct  of  the  peo- 
ple in  assenting  to,  approving  of,  and  acquies- 
cing in  such  acts  of  the  legislature,  had  established 
and  rendered  those  acts  valid  and  binding,  and 
had  given  them  all  the  force  and  authority  of  an 
express  contract.197  Such  discussion  of  consti- 
tutional questions,  confined  at  first  to  the  few, 
spread  among  the  many  after  Leland's  attack 
upon  the  charter,  and  were  debated  with  great 
earnestness.  Leland's  attack  gained  him,  at  the 
time,  comparatively  few  adherents,  but  it  brought 


LIBERTY  IN  CONNECTICUT  405 

the  question  of  disestablishment  fairly  before  the 
people,  demonstrating  to  the  discontented  that 
there  was  very  little  hope  for  larger  liberty,  for 
greater  justice,  until   the  power  of  legislation, 
granted  by  the  old  charter,  should  be  curtailed, 
and  the  bond  between  Church  and  State  severed. 
The  growth  in  Connecticut  of  the  Democratic- 
Republican  party,  outside  its  following  among 
Methodists,  Baptists  and  a  few  radical  thinkers, 
was  very  slow.    The  Episcopalians  were  held  in 
much  higher  esteem  by  the  Federal  members  of 
the  Establishment,  or  «  Standing  Order,"  as  they 
were  called,  than  were  the  other  dissenters.    Yet 
notwithstanding  the  wealth  and  conservatism  of 
the  sect,  they  were  looked  at  askance  when  it 
came  to  giving  them  political  office,  for  the  old 
dislike  to  a  Churchman  still  lingered  in  New 
England.    Accordingly,  they  were  somewhat  dis- 
satisfied at  the  treatment  they  received  as  polit- 
ical allies  of  the  Standing  Order,  and,  in  order 
to  quiet  their  incipient  discontent,  the  government 
thought  best  to  occasionally  extend  some  small 
favor   to    them.     So   in    1799,   the   legislature 
granted  them  a  charter  for  a  fund  for  their  bishop 
which  they  were  trying  to  raise.    About  the  same 
time,  Yale   first   conferred  upon   an  Episcopal 
clergyman  the  title  of  doctor  of  divinity.    The 
transfer  of  the  annual  fast  day  to  coincide  with 


406    THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  RELIGIOUS 

Good  Friday  was  appreciated  by  the  Churchmen. 
The  change  was  first  made  in  1795,  and  came 
about  through  Governor  Huntington's  friendship 
for  Bishop  Seabury,  and  because  of  a  desire  to 
remove  from  the  public  mind  a  misapprehension, 
arising  from  the  refusal  of  the  Episcopal  church 
in  New  London  to  comply  with  President  Wash- 
ington's proclamation  for  a  national  Thanksgiv- 
ing.0   From  1797  this  change  of  fast-day  became 

a  Bishop  Seabury's  church,  St.  James  of  New  London,  had 
neglected  to  observe  President  Washington's  proclamation  of 
a  national  thanksgiving  on  February  19,  1795,  which  fell  in 
Lent.  This  roused  some  antagonism,  and  was  made  the  subject 
of  a  sharp  and  rather  censorious  newspaper  attack  upon  the 
Episcopalians.  At  the  same  time  a  few  Federal  Congregation- 
alists  were  further  stirred  by  Bishop  Seabury's  signature,  viz. 
"  Samuel,  Bishop  of  Connecticut  and  Rhode  Island,"  to  a  pro- 
clamation that  the  prelate  had  issued,  urging  a  contribution  in 
behalf  of  the  Algerine  captives.  This  signature  was  regarded 
as  a  "  pompous  expression  of  priestly  pride."  Governor  Hunt- 
ington was  a  personal  friend  of  Bishop  Seabury.  Moreover, 
at  this  particular  time,  the  congregation  to  which  the  Governor 
belonged  in  Norwich  was  worshiping  in  the  Episcopal  church 
during  the  rebuilding  of  their  own  meeting-house,  which  had 
been  destroyed  by  fire.  The  Governor  had  previously  been 
approached  with  a  suggestion  that  the  fasts  and  feasts  of 
the  Congregationalists  and  Episcopalians  should  be  made  to 
coincide,  or  at  least  that  the  annual  fast  day  should  not  be  ap- 
pointed for  any  time  between  Easter  Week  and  Trinity  Sunday, 
and  that  the  public  thanksgivings,  when  occasion  required  them, 
should,  if  possible,  not  be  appointed  during  Lent.  In  17(.'-\  the 
annual  fast  day  would  have  fallen  upon  the  Thursday  in  Holy 
Week.  In  order  to  avoid  laying  any  stress  upon  the  sanctity  of 
certain  days  of  the  week,  and  because  Governor  Huntington 


LIBERTY  IN  CONNECTICUT  407 

customary.  It  removed  the  long-standing  com- 
plaint that  Presbyterian  days  of  fasting  or  rejoi- 
cing frequently  occurred  during  Episcopal  feasts 
or  fasts.  At  an  earlier  period,  the  ignoring  of 
such  public  proclamations  was  sometimes  made 
the  occasion  for  imposing  fines  for  the  benefit  of 
the  Establishment. 

As  has  been  said,  the  Republican  gains  were 
greater  among  the  Methodists  and  Baptists. 
This  was  partly  because  not  a  few  among  these 
dissenters  associated  Jefferson's  party  with  his 
efforts  towards  disestablishment  in  Virginia  in 
1785.  Out  of  Connecticut's  population  of  two 
hundred  and  fifty  thousand,  the  Republicans 
counted  upon  recruits  from  the  Methodist  body, 
numbering,  in  1802,  one  thousand  six  hundred 
and  fifty-eight,  and  from  the  Baptists,  approxi- 
mating four  thousand    six  hundred   and    sixty 

wished  to  turn  the  public  mind  away  from  the  petty  contro- 
versy, he  appointed  the  fast  day  on  Good  Friday.  In  1796,  the 
annual  fast  fell  in  the  Lenten  season.  In  1797,  in  order  to  avoid 
having  the  fast  interfere  with  the  regular  sessions  of  the 
County  Courts,  and  at  the  same  time  to  avoid  its  falling  in 
Easter  week,  Governor  Trumbull  appointed  it  again  on  Good 
Friday.  The  arrangement  was  accepted  with  satisfaction  by 
the  Episcopalians  and  with  no  objections  from  the  Congrega- 
tionalists,  and  thereafter  it  became  the  custom.  (Bishop  Sea- 
bury  had  been  elected  to  the  bishopric  of  Rhode  Island  in 
1790.) — William  DeLoss  Love,  Jr.,  Fasts  and  Thanksgivings 
of  New  England,  pp.  346-361. 


408    THE   DEVELOPMENT  OF   RELIGIOUS 

members.  In  1798-1800  the  division  of  the 
Federalists  over  national  issues  strengthened 
the  Republicans  in  Connecticut,  as  they  were  the 
successors  to  the  Anti-Federalists,  those  "  vision- 
ary theorists  "  of  1786.  The  new  Democratic- 
Republican  party  received  further  additions  to 
their  ranks  through  the  opposition  in  Connecticut 
to  the  Federal  and  obnoxious  "  Stand-up  Law  "  of 
1801.  This  law,  which  required  a  man  to  stand 
when  voting  for  the  nomination  of  senators, 
"  was  made  to  catch  the  secret  vote  of  the  Re- 
publicans," 198  and  revealed  at  once  the  opposition 
of  every  dissenter,  debtor,  employee,  or  of  any 
one  who  had  cause  to  fear  injury  to  himself  if 
he  gave  an  honest  vote.  It  was  passed  by  a  com- 
pact and  reunited  body  of  Federalists  whose 
boast  was  that  no  division  upon  national  ques- 
tions could  affect  their  unity  and  strength  in  the 
Land  of  Steady  Habits. 

The  Republican-Democratic  party  in  the  state 
would  have  gained  recruits  more  rapidly  had 
it  not  been  for  its  attitude  as  a  national  party 
toward  France.  To  appreciate  the  situation  in 
Connecticut,  one  must  consider,  first  of  all,  the 
influence  of  the  French  Revolution.  One  must 
realize  the  intense  interest,  the  mingled  exul- 
tation and  terror  with  which  conservatives  who, 
though  they  might  differ  in  their  religious  pre- 


LIBERTY  IN   CONNECTICUT  409 

ferences,  were  yet  the  rank  and  file  of  the  state, 
watched  its  varying  aspects  from  its  outbreak  in 
1789  on  through  the  years  of  its  earliest  experi- 
ments in  statecraft,  of  its  exaggerated  exploita- 
tion of  "  liberty,  equality,  and  fraternity,"  and 
of  its  casting  off  of  all  religious  bonds  and  tram- 
mels. As  the  Federal  party  lost  its  sympathy 
with  the  French  cause  the  attitude  of  the  nation 
changed.  The  consolidated  factions  of  the  Anti- 
Federalists,  however,  increased  their  ardor  for 
the  French  republic,  and  took  from  1792  the 
name  Democratic-Republican.  They  carried  their 
keen  sympathy  even  to  expressing  their  French 
sentiments  by  their  dress  and  manners.  The 
change  in  the  national  attitude  was  reflected  in 
Connecticut  by  the  whole-hearted  antipathy  of 
large  numbers  of  her  people  to  what  they  con- 
sidered "  radicalism  of  the  most  destructive 
character."  English  Arianism  and  Arminianism, 
with  which  the  Edwardeans  had  waged  war, 
were  nothing  compared  to  the  influx  of  French 
infidelity  and  atheism  which  appeared  to  be 
sweeping  over  the  land.  Books  formerly  guarded 
by  the  clergy  were  on  sale  everywhere.  They 
found  among  the  masses  many  like  Aaron  Burr, 
who,  during  his  period  of  study  with  Dr.  Bel- 
lamy, had  preferred  the  logic  of  the  printed 
books  upon   the  shelves  to  that  of  the  master 


410    THE   DEVELOPMENT  OF  RELIGIOUS 

who  placed  them  there.  Dr.  Bellamy  proposed 
to  confute  the  pernicious  arguments  of  these 
books,  bringing  them  one  by  one  before  his  select 
body  of  students,  so  that  they  should  be  able  to 
guide  their  future  parishioners  when  the  insidious 
poison  of  these  dangerous  authors,  these  "  fol- 
lowers of  Satan,"  should  force  its  way  among 
them. 

All  sects  attempted  to  oppose  such  an  influx 
of  irreligion.  All  but  the  Episcopalians  fell  back 
upon  revivals  as  their  chief  means.  In  these 
revivals  the  Methodists  and  Congregationalists 
were  perhaps  the  most  successful  in  securing 
converts.  The  policy  of  the  Episcopal  church 
did  not  favor  this  phase  of  religious  life.  It  felt 
that  its  whole  attitude  was  a  protest  against  ex- 
aggerated liberty,  or  license,  and  against  all  athe- 
istical ideas.  During  the  revivals  the  Baptists, 
also,  added  largely  to  their  numbers.  The  Metho- 
dists, however,  brought  to  their  revival  meetings 
the  peculiar  strength  of  fervent  proselytes  to  a 
new  faith;  of  one  rapidly  becoming  popular, 
appealing  strongly  to  the  emotions,  and  having 
a  touch  of  martyrdom  still  clinging  to  its  pro- 
fession. Among  those  Federalists  who  were  also 
Congregationalists,  the  French  He  volution  was 
believed  to  be  the  "  result  of  a  combination  long 
since  formed  in  Europe  by  infidels  and  atheists 


LIBERTY  IN   CONNECTICUT  411 

to  root  out  and  effectually  destroy  religion  and 
civil  government."  Holding  this  opinion;  see- 
ing the  Baptists  and  Methodists  increasing  in 
importance,  both  in  the  nation  and  in  the  state ; 
watching  the  continual  increase  of  the  unortho- 
dox and  of  the  freethinker,  and  perceiving  the 
growing  loss  of  confidence  in  the  Federal  party 
both  in  the  nation  and  the  state,  the  Standing 
Order  felt  itself  face  to  face  with  imminent  peril. 
It  scented  danger  to  itself  and  to  the  existence  of 
the  commonwealth.  But  it  sadly  lacked  a  great 
leader,  until  the  year  1795,  when  it  found  one 
in  the  recently  elected  president  of  Yale,  the 
Rev.  Timothy  Dwight.  He  was  a  grandson  of 
Jonathan  Edwards,  and  was  a  man  of  amazing 
energy,  of  varied  training,  and  of  great  personal 
charm. 

In  his  experience  Dr.  Dwight  counted  a 
college  education,  a  theological  training  under 
Jonathan  Edwards,  Jr.,  a  tutorship  at  Yale,  a 
chaplaincy  among  the  rough  soldiers  of  the  war 
of  the  Revolution,  home-life  on  his  father's  farm 
at  Northampton,  where  the  men  in  the  field  vied 
with  each  other  "  to  rake  or  hoe  beside  Timothy  " 
in  order  to  hear  him  talk.  In  political  life  Dr. 
Dwight  had  served  an  apprenticeship  in  the 
General  Court  of  Massachusetts,  where  he  sat  as 
deputy  from  Northampton.    He  had  had  experi- 


412     THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  RELIGIOUS 

ence  as  a  preacher  in  several  small  towns,  and 
as  pastor  at  Greenfield  Hill,  a  part  of  Fairfield. 
There  he  had  added  to  his  income  by  establishing 
the  Greenfield  Academy  for  both  sexes.  Upon 
accepting  the  presidency  of  Yale  he  became  also 
professor  of  theology,  and  in  addition  he  took 
under  his  special  care  the  courses  in  rhetoric  and 
oratory.  These  last  two,  together  with  literature, 
had,  he  thought,  been  entirely  too  much  neg- 
lected.0 His  coming  was  a  forecast  of  the  man 
of  flie  nineteenth  century.199  Dr.  Stiles  had  been 
a  fine  type  of  the  eighteenth.  Dr.  D wight  was 
a  man  of  less  acquirements  in  languages,  but 
he  was  a  more  accurate  scholar,  of  broader  in- 
telligence, and  with  a  mind  well  stocked  and 
ready.  He  had  a  pleasing  power  of  expression, 
was  tactful,  and  could  readily  adapt  himself  to 
men  and  circumstances.  It  was  he  who  was 
to  give  Yale  its  initial  movement  from  college  to 
university.  He  himself  was  to  become  a  cele- 
brated teacher  and  theologian.  He  was  to  be  one 
of  the  founders  of  the  New  England  school,  whose 
principles   Dr.  Taylor,  in    1827,  was   to  make 

a  Early  in  his  career  he  had  written  a  versification  of  the 
Psalms,  in  178S  his  Conquest  of  Canaan,  and  later  Triumph  of 
Infidelity.  President  D  wight  taught  the  seniors  rhetoric,  logic, 
ethics,  and  metaphysics,  and  the  graduate  students  in  theology. 
In  1805  he  was  appointed  to  the  professorship  of  the  latter 
study. 


LIBERTY  IN  CONNECTICUT  413 

known  under  the  name  of  the  New  Haven  Theo- 
logy." In  his  own  day  Dr.  Dwight  was  equally 
celebrated  as  a  power  both  in  religion  and  poli- 
tics. "  Pope  Dwight  "  his  enemies  termed  him, 
and  they  nicknamed  his  ministerial  following  his 
"bishops,"  while  they  dubbed  the  Council  or 
Senators  "his  Twelve  Cardinals." 

Outside  his  college  duties,  and  as  a  part  of  his 
care  for  its  spiritual  welfare,  President  Dwight's 
immediate  purpose  was  to  combine  all  forces  that 
could  be  used  to  stem  the  dangerous  currents 
rushing  against  the  bulwarks  of  Church  and 
State.  He  had  early  favored  the  drawing  to- 
gether of  Congregational  and  Presbyterian 
bodies.  He  had  discerned,  as  early  as  1792,  a 
stirring  of  new  life  in  the  religious  world,  the 
breaking  down  of  the  apathy  of  half  a  century 
that  had  been  indicated  by  revivals  in  places  far 
scattered,  not  only  throughout  New  England  but 
in  other  states.  Towns  in  Massachusetts,  with 
East  Haddam  and  Lyme  in  Connecticut,  had  been 
roused  as  early  as  the  year  named.  That  element 
of  personal  experience  which  had  been  so  marked 
a  feature  of  the  Great  Awakening  reappeared, 
but  without  that  excessive  emotionalism b  which 

a  Dr.  Dwight's  Theology  Explained  was  not  published  until 
1818,  after  his  death,  and  his  Travels  not  until  1821-22. 

b  Except  among  the  backwoodsmen  of  Kentucky  in  1799- 
1803. 


414    THE '  DEVELOPMENT  OF   RELIGIOUS 

characterized  the  earlier  revival.  Nor  was  there 
any  such  pronounced  leadership  as  then.  There 
was  the  same  conviction  of  sinfulness,  the  peace 
after  its  acknowledgment,  and  the  joyous  satis- 
faction in  the  determination  to  lead  an  upright 
life,  seeking  God's  grace  and  will.  Recognition 
of  this  spiritual  awakening  had  in  some  measure 
entered  into  the  proposed  disposal  of  the  money 
from  the  Western  Lands,  as  it  had  also  in  the 
discussion  of  the  joint  missionary  work  of  1791- 
1794,  and  again  in  1797-98,200  when  the  General 
Association  of  Connecticut  was  incorporated  as 
the  Connecticut  Missionary  Society.®  In  all  of 
these  movements  President  Dwight  had  taken  an 
active  part.  Upon  entering  the  presidency  of  Yale 
he  at  once  began  a  series  of  sermons,  which  he 
delivered  Suuday  mornings,  and  which  were  so 
arranged  that  in  each  four  years  the  course  was 
complete.  These  lectures  were  his  "  Theology  Ex- 
plained and  Defended,"  first  published  in  1818. 
President  Dwight,  with  the  leading  Presbyterian 
or  Congregational  ministers,  together  with  the 
Methodist  and  Baptist  clergy,  continued  to  favor 
the  revival  movement.  This  reached  its  height 
in  1807.    From  beginning  to  end  it  lasted  nearly 

a  The  Society  was  granted  a  charter  in  1802.  In  1797  inter- 
est in  the  missions  was  intensified  by  the  free  distribution  of 
seventeen  hundred  copies  of  the  report  of  missionary  work  in 
England  and  America. 


LIBERTY  IN  CONNECTICUT  415 

a  quarter  of  a  century,  and  was  punctuated  by 
the  revival  years  of  1798,  1800,  and  1802,  that 
were  especially  fruitful  of  conversions  in  Con- 
necticut. That  of  1802  attracted  large  numbers 
of  the  college  students.  The  success  of  the  re- 
vivals was  marked  by  increasing  austerities,  such 
as  the  denunciation  of  amusements,  both  public 
and  private,  and  the  revival  of  dead-letter  laws 
for  the  more  strict  observance  of  Sunday.  Trav- 
eling or  driving  was  prohibited  without  a  pass 
signed  by  a  justice  of  the  peace.  Travelers  were 
held  up  over  "  holy  time."  Attempts  were  made 
to  prevent  the  young  people  from  gathering  in 
companies  on  Sunday  evenings  after  the  Sabbath 
was  legally  over.  Too  much  hilarity,  though  in- 
nocent, was  condemned.  Such  restrictions  were 
extremely  distasteful  to  a  large  minority  in  the 
state,  and  seemed  to  many  citizens  only  re- 
peated proofs  of  how  closely  the  government  and 
the  Presbyterian-Congregational  church  were 
banded  together.  Accordingly  the  Republicans 
began  to  think  it  was  time  to  test  the  strength 
of  such  a  platform  as  they  could  put  forth  while 
making  a  bid  for  the  whole  dissenting  vote. 
The  election  of  Adams  and  Jefferson  a  in  1797 

°  The  Rev.  Jedidiah  Champion  of  Litchfield,  an  ardent  Fed- 
eralist, on  the  Sunday  following'  the  news  of  the  election  of 
Adams  and  Jefferson,  prayed  fervently  for  the  president-elect, 


416    THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  RELIGIOUS 

was  a  spur  to  both  parties,  lending  hope  to  the 
scattered  Republicans,  and  prodding  the  recently 
over-confident  Federalists.  In  March,  1798,  the 
whole  nation  was  roused  almost  to  forgetfulness 
of  party  lines  by  the  anger  created  by  the  publi- 
cation of  the  "XYZ  Papers."  A  few  months 
later  the  Federal  party,  through  its  Alien  and 
Sedition  laws,  had  lost  its  renewed  hold  upon  the 
nation.  Connecticut  denounced  the  Virginia  and 
Kentucky  resolutions  of  1798-99,  and  was  to 
all  appearances  stanchly  Federal.  But  her  lead- 
ers were  looking  for  another  presidential  candi- 
date than  Adams,  while  the  Republicans,  elate 
with  the  anticipated  national  victory  in  1800, 
were  making  preparations  to  catch  any  and  every 
dissatisfied-  voter  in  the  state.  The  scattered 
Republican  clubs  and  committees  awoke  to  new 
activity.  As  Jefferson  kept  his  party  well  in 
hand,  and  let  the  national  dissatisfaction  increase 
that  he  might  rush  to  victory  at  the  presidential 
election  of  1800,  so  the  Connecticut  Republi- 
cans matured  their  plans.  They  did  not  formally 
organize  their  party  till  1800,  first  making  sure 
of  their  great  leader  as  the  nation's  executive, 

closing  with  the  words,  "  O  Lord !  wilt  Thou  bestow  upon  the 
Vice-President  a  double  portion  of  Thy  grace,  for  Thou  knowest 
he  needs  ifr."  This  was  mild,  for  Jefferson  was  considered  by 
the  New  England  clergy  to  be  almost  the  equal  of  Napoleon, 
whom  one  of  them  named  the  "  Scourge  of  God." 


LIBERTY  IN   CONNECTICUT  417 

and  almost  of  his  reelection.  Then  they  began 
to  urge  the  acceptance  of  their  platform  upon 
the  oppressed  Connecticut  dissenters,  and  to  taunt 
the  Federal  Episcopalians  with  an  allegiance  that 
as  late  as  1802  had  not  been  thought  of  sufficient 
worth  to  warrant  the  small  favor  of  a  college 
charter  for  their  academy  at  Cheshire.  The  Fed- 
eralists attempted  to  disarm  the  Episcopal  dis- 
satisfaction over  the  refusal  by  granting  them  a 
license  for  a  lottery  to  raise  $15,000  for  the 
bishop's  fund. 

The  leader  of  the  Republicans  in  Connecticut 
was  Pierpont  Edwards,  a  recently  appointed 
United  States  district  judge.  He  was  brother  of 
Jonathan  Edwards,  Jr.,  for  years  the  pastor 
of  the  North  Church  at  New  Haven,  and  in  1800 
president  of  Union  College.  This  Republican 
leader  was  the  maternal  uncle  of  his  opponent  in 
Federal  state  politics,  President  Dwight,  and  also 
of  the  Republican  Vice-President,  Aaron  Burr. 
Another  nephew  of  his  was  Theodore  Dwight,  the 
brother  of  Yale's  president,  who  led  the  Federal 
civilians,  and  who  was  editor  of  the  "  Hartford 
Courant,"  the  organ  of  the  Connecticut  Feder- 
alists. The  Hartford  "  American  Mercury " 
voiced  the  sentiments  of  the  Republicans.  The 
latter  party  throughout  the  state  was  formally 
organized  in  1800  at  a  meeting  in  New  Haven, 


418    THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  RELIGIOUS 

the  home  of  Mr.  Edwards  and  of  his  henchman, 
Abraham  Bishop,  son  of  that  city's  mayor. 

The  close  personal  relationship  of  the  leaders," 
the  scorn  of  the  radicals,  the  abhorrence  of  the 
conservatives  for  the  principles,  opinions,  and 
even,  in  some  cases,  habits  of  life  of  their  oppo- 
nents, entered  into  the  strife  and  vituperation 
of  the  political  campaigns  from  1800  to  1806. 
Personalities  were  unsparing,  passion  rose  high, 
and  speeches  were  bitter.  This  was  particularly 
the  case  in  New  Haven,  where  Abraham  Bishop's 
impudent  boldness  of  attack  and  denimciation 
was  exaggerated  by  his  father's  position.  Samuel 
Bishop,  the  father,  was  a  man  of  seventy-seven, 
and  old  in  the  service  of  both  Church  and  State. 
He  was  senior  deacon  in  the  North  Church,  or 
what  was  at  that  time  known  as  the  Church  of 

n  Pierpont  Edwards,  b.  April  8,  1750,  graduated  at  Prince- 
ton, 1768,  died  April  5, 182G. 

Timothy  Dwight,  b.  May  14,  1752,  died  January  11,  1817. 

Aaron  Burr,  b.  February  6,  1756,  Vice-President  1801-05, 
died  September  14,  1836. 

Theodore  Dwight,  b.  December  15, 1754,  educated  for  the  law 
under  Pierpont  Edwards,  and  practiced  it  for  a  time  in  New 
York  city  with  his  cousin,  Aaron  Burr.  He  broke  the  partner- 
ship because  of  difference  in  politics,  and  went  to  Hartford.  He 
became  a  member  of  the  governor's  council,  1809-1815  ;  sec- 
retary of  the  Hartford  Convention,  1814.  He  established  the 
Connecticut  Mirror  in  1809  ;  founded  and  conducted  the  Albany 
Daily  Advertiser,  1815-16,  and  the  Daily  Advocate,  New  York, 
1816-36.   He  died  June  12,  1S46. 


LIBERTY  IN  CONNECTICUT  419 

the  United  White  Haven  and  Fair  Haven  Soci- 
eties. He  was  also  a  justice  of  the  peace,  town 
clerk,  and  mayor  of  the  city.  The  last  office  was 
held,  according  to  the  charter,  during  the  plea- 
sure of  the  legislature.  Samuel  Bishop  was  also 
chief  judge  of  the  court  of  common  pleas  for  New 
Haven  County,  and  sole  judge  of  probate,  annual 
offices  which  the  General  Assembly  had  re-con- 
ferred upon  him  in  1800  and  in  1801.  His  son 
was  a  graduate  of  Yale  (1778).  He  was  a  law- 
yer of  somewhat  indifferent  practice,  and  from 
1791  to  1798  clerk  of  the  county  court  under 
his  father,  while  from  1798  he  had  been  clerk 
of  the  superior  court.  Before  settling  down  to 
practice  at  the  bar  he  had  lived  abroad,  and  had 
been  caught  in  the  whirl  of  French  thought  and 
democratic  ideas.  He  had  returned  home  bearing 
words  of  recommendation  to  Washington's  secre- 
tary of  state  from  Jefferson's  European  friends. 
A  personal  meeting  with  that  party  leader  had 
added  to  Bishop's  enthusiasm.  For  some  years 
he  had  lived  in  Boston,  and  tried  his  hand  at 
literature.  He  had  returned  to  New  Haven  in 
1791,  and  had  thrown  himself  into  politics. 
He  purposely  exaggerated  his  opinions.  He  was 
careless  of  his  unorthodox  expressions  even  to 
the  verge  of  blasphemy.  Though  himself  a  be- 
liever in  God,  he  was  perhaps  what  one  would 


420    THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  RELIGIOUS 

probably  have  termed  a  little  later  a  Unitarian. 
His  enemies  exaggerated  his  exaggerations," — 
and  Unitarianism  was  a  crime  according  to  the 
Connecticut  statutes.0 

In  his  speeches  and  essays  Abraham  Bishop 
struck  out  boldly,  with  earnestness,  logic,  shrewd 
wit,  and  irony,  and,  as  has  been  said,  at  times 
with  dangerous  irreverence,  —  often  with  down- 
right impudence  when  that  would  serve  his  pur- 
pose. An  illustration  of  his  extreme  use  of  it 
was  in  1800,  about  the  time  of  the  organization 
of  the  Republican  party  throughout  the  state. 

He  had  been  honored  with  the  Phi  Beta 
Kappa  oration,  annually  delivered  on  the  eve 
of  the  Yale  Commencement,  then  in  September. 
A  polished  literary  effort  was  expected.  He 
broke  tradition,  courtesy,  and  every  implied  ob- 
ligation in  the  choice  of  his  subject.  In  August 
he  sent  to  the  committee  his  paper  for  their 
acceptance  or  refusal.  It  was  entitled  "  The 
Extent  and  Power  of  Political  Delusions,"  and 
was  an  out  and  out  campaign  document.  The 
presidential  election  was  due  in  November !  Fur- 
ther, Bishop  made  political  capital  of  the  anti- 

a  The  crimes  against  religion  punishable  by  law  were  Blas- 
phemy (by  whipping-,  fine,  or  imprisonment)  ;  Atheism,  Poly- 
theism, Unitarianism,  Apostacy  (by  loss  of  employment, 
whether  ecclesiastical,  civil,  or  military,  for  the  first  offense). 
—  Swift's  System  of  Law,  ii,  320,  321. 


LIBERTY   IN   CONNECTICUT  421 

cipated  refusal  of  his  paper,  which  was  not  sent 
him  until  the  eleventh  hour.  The  readers  of  the 
morning  paper,  wherein  the  committee  offered  an 
apology  for  the  change  of  speakers  at  the  Society's 
meeting  to  be  held  that  night,  were  confronted 
by  the  announcement  that  the  refused  address 
would  be  given  to  all  who  cared  to  listen  to  it  in 
the  parlors  of  the  White  Haven  church  that  same 
evening,  and  by  the  still  further  notice  that 
copies  of  it  were  fresh  from  the  printer's  hands 
and  were  ready  to  be  distributed  to  the  remotest 
parts  of  the  state.  Needless  to  state,  the  Phi 
Beta  Kappa  audience  dwindled  away  to  swell 
the  crowd  of  fifteen  hundred,  wherein  Bishop 
gleefully  counted  "  eight  clergymen  and  many 
ladies."  The  address  met  with  great  favor,  and 
the  Wallingford  Republicans  at  their  celebra- 
tion of  March  11,  1801,  in  honor  of  the  election 
of  Jefferson  and  Burr,  asked  Mr.  Bishop  to  be 
their  orator.a 

To  top  Bishop's  insult,  —  as  it  was  regarded 
by  every  friend  of  the  Standing  Order,  —  came 

a  Oration  delivered  in  Wallingford  on  the  eleventh  of  March 
1801,  before  the  Republicans  of  the  State  of  Connecticut  at  the 
General  Thanksgiving  for  the  election  of  Thomas  Jefferson  to 
the  Presidency,  and  of  Aaron  Burr  to  the  Vice-Presidency,  of 
the  United  States  of  America  1801. 

See  the  appendix  to  the  Oration  for  an  account  of  the  New 
Haven  episode. 


422    THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  RELIGIOUS 

in  the  following  spring  Jefferson's  displacement 
of  Elizur  Goodrich,  President  Adams's  appointee 
as  collector  of  the  port  of  New  Haven,  and  the 
substitution  of  Samuel  Bishop.  President  Jef- 
ferson considered  himself  at  liberty  to  make  this 
change ;  and  all  the  more  so  because  President 
Adams  had  made  the  appointment  as  one  of  his 
last  official  acts,  when  he  must  have  known  it 
would  have  been  unacceptable  to  the  incoming 
Republican  administration.  The  merchants  of 
New  Haven  immediately  united  in  a  petition 
to  President  Jefferson,  in  which  they  declared 
that  Samuel  Bishop  was  too  old  to  perform  the 
duties  of  the  office,  and,  moreover,  not  acquainted 
with  accounts.  Assuming  that  his  son  Abraham 
would  assist  him,  they  denounced  the  latter  as 
"  entirely  destitute  of  public  confidence,  so  con- 
spicuous for  his  enmity  to  commerce  and  oppo- 
sition to  order,  so  odious  to  his  fellow  citizens, 
that  we  presume  his  warmest  partizans  would 
not  have  hazarded  a  recommendation  of  him." 
Notwithstanding  this  protest  the  appointment 
was  continued,  the  President  pointing  out  the 
honors  bestowed  upon  the  father  and  the  care 
with  which  he,  Jefferson,  had  investigated  the 
case  before  acting  upon  it.  Reproving  the  au- 
thorities for  so  long  excluding  the  Republicans 
entirely    from    office,    Jefferson    expressed    his 


LIBERTY  IN  CONNECTICUT  423 

regret  at  finding  upon  his  accession  to  the  presi- 
dency not  even  a  "  moderate  participation  in 
office  in  the  hands  of  the  majority."  He  further 
stated  that  when  such  a  situation  was  in  some 
measure  relieved  he  would  be  only  too  glad  to 
make  the  question  "  Is  he  capable  ?  Is  he  hon- 
est ?  Is  he  faithful  to  the  Constitution  ? "  the 
only  tests  for  obtaining  and  holding  office.  Sam- 
uel Bishop  died  in  1803,  and  the  collectorship 
was  then  bestowed  upon  his  son,  who  held  it  until 
his  death  in  1829. 

In  Connecticut  the  two  political  parties  pre- 
pared for  conflict.  The  Republicans  desired  a 
new  constitution  and  disestablishment.  The  old 
constitutional  and  religious  debates  were  opened 
and  fiercely  fought  out  in  pamphlet,  press,  ser- 
mon, and  political  oration.  Noah  Webster  re- 
plied to  the  "  Extent  and  Power  of  Political 
Delusion"  by  "A  Rod  for  the  Fool's  Back." 
John  Leland  published  his  famous  Hartford 
speech  as  "  A  Blow  at  the  Root,  a  fashionable 
Fast-Day  Sermon,"  and  his  "  High  Flying 
Churchman,"  as  contributions  in  behalf  of  civil 
and  religious  liberty.  Abraham  Bishop  took  up 
the  latter  topic  in  his  "  Wallingford  Address, 
Proofs  of  a  Conspiracy  Against  Christianity  and 
the  Government  of  the  United  States,"  published 
in  1802,  as  well  as  in  his  "  Extent  and  Power  of 


424    THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  RELIGIOUS 

Political  Delusion"  of  1800.  A  fair  type  of 
Mr.  Bishop's  style  and  treatment  is  shown  in  his 
"  Connecticut  Republicanism,"  a  campaign  docu- 
ment, wherein  he  sets  forth  his  opinion  of  the 
union  of  Church  and  State.a 

In  his  campaign  document  under  the  title 
"  Connecticut  Republicanism"  Bishop  declared: 

Christianity  has  suffered  more  by  the  attempts  to 
unite  church  and  state  than  by  all  the  deistical  writ- 
ings, yet  the  men  who  denounce  them  are  pronounced 
atheists  and  no  proof  of  their  atheism  is  required  but 
their  opposition  to  Federal  measures.  .  .  .  Church 
and  state  cannot  be  better  served  than  by  keeping 
them  distinct  and  by  placing  them  where  they  ought 
to  be,  above,  instead  of  beneath  the  control  of  men 
who  care  no  more  for  either  of  them  than  they  can 
turn  to  their  personal  benefit.  The  self-styled  friends 
of  order  have  in  all  nations  been  the  cause  of  all 
the  convulsions  and  distresses  which  have  agitated 
the  world.  .  .  .  The  clergyman  preaches  politics,  the 
civilian  prates  of  orthodoxy,  and  if  any  man  refuse 
to  join  their  coalition  they  endeavor  to  hunt  him 
down  to  the  tune  "  The  Church  is  in  danger."  .  .  . 
In  1787  this  visible  intolerance  had  abated  in  New 
England  ;  there  was  no  written  law  in  force  that  none 
but  church-members  should  be  free  burgesses  :  yet 

a  "  Connecticutensis,"  or  David  Daggett,  also  replied  in 
Three  Letters  to  Abraham  Bishop.  Theodore  Dwight's  Ora- 
tion at  New  Haven  before  the  Society  of  the  Cincinnati,  July  7, 
1S01,  took  up  the  constitutionality  of  the  charter  government. 


LIBERTY  IN  CONNECTICUT  425 

the  avowed  charge  of  Christ's  church  was  in  our  law- 
books, some  nice  points  of  theology  were  settled  in 
our  statutes  and  the  common  law  of  church  and  state 
was  in  full  force.  .  .  .  The  Trinitarian  doctrine  is 
established  by  laws,  and  the  denial  of  it  is  placed 
in  the  rank  of  felony.  Though  we  have  ceased  to 
transplant  from  town  to  town  Quakers,  New  Lights, 
and  Baptists  ;  yet  the  dissenters  from  our  prevailing 
denominations  are  even  at  this  moment  praying  for 
a  repeal  of  those  laws  which  abridge  the  rights  of 
conscience. 

Break  the  league  of  church  and  state  which  first 
subjugates  your  consciences,  then  treating  your  un- 
derstanding like  galley  slaves,  robs  you  of  religion 
and  civil  freedom.  .  .  .  Thirty  thousand  freemen 
are  against  the  union  of  church  and  state.  Thirty 
thousand  more  men,  deprived  of  voting  because  they 
are  not  rich  or  learned  enough,  are  ready  to  join 
them.201 

In  his  "  Wallingford  Address,"  Bishop  ex- 
claims "  The  clerical  politician  is  a  useless 
preacher  ;  the  political  Christian  is  a  dangerous 
statesman."  On  the  title  page  of  this  address 
appeared  the  epigram,  "  Our  statesmen  to  the 
Constitution ;  our  Clergy  to  the  Bible."  The 
unfortunately  irreverent  parallel  which  Bishop 
drew  between  the  Saviour  of  the  world  and  the 
leader  of  the   national  Republican  party,  or  of 


426     THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  RELIGIOUS 

the  democracy  or  common  people,  gave  to  the 
epigram  an  evil  significance  not  intended,  and  to 
its  author  a  reputation  not  wholly  deserved. 

David  Daggett,  a  prominent  New  Haven  Fed- 
eralist and  lawyer,0  tried  in  "  Facts  are  Stubborn 
Things  "  to  refute  the  charge  that  the  people 
were  priest-ridden,  the  legislature  arbitrary  and 
tyrannical,  the  clergy  bigots.  In  the  course  of 
his  argument  he  gives  an  account  of  the  recep- 
tion of  a  Baptist  petition  which,  voicing  the 
smouldering  discontent  that  was  kept  burning 
by  the  certificate  law,  had  been  presented  to  the 
legislature.  Daggett  charged  the  Republicans 
with  instituting  the  custom  of  holding  their  party 
meetings  in  Hartford  and  New  Haven  at  the  time 
of  the  meeting  of  the  Assembly  in  those  cities, 
and  of  making  the  political  gathering  a  means  of 
directing  what  topics  should  be  brought  up  for 
discussion  in  the  House  of  Representatives,  and 
what  discussed  in  their  party  organ  the  "  Amer- 
ican Mercury."  Daggett  accused  the  Republi- 
cans of  purposely  choosing  subjects  of  discus- 
sion of  an  inflammable  character,  and  declared 
that  it  was  in  Babcock's  paper  (so  called  from 
its  editor)  that  the  Baptist  petition  originated, 
which,  circulated  through  the  state,  received 
some  three  thousand  signatures,  "  many  of  whom 

a  Later  chief  justice. 


LIBERTY   IN  CONNECTICUT  427 

doubtless  sought  the  public  good."  202  The  peti- 
tion was  presented  for  trial  in  1802  and  a  day 
set  for  its  hearing,  upon  which  Mr.  Pierpont 
Edwards  and  Mr.  Gideon  Granger  were  to 
advocate  it.  The  gentlemen,  according  to  Mr. 
Daggett's  account,  did  not  appear,  and  of  course 
no  trial  was  held.  Instead,  the  Assembly  referred 
it  to  a  committee  of  eighteen  from  the  two 
houses.  Mr.  Daggett  insisted  that  "  it  was 
thoroughly  canvassed,  and  every  gentleman  pro- 
fessed himself  entirely  satisfied  that  there  was  no 
ground  of  complaint  which  the  Legislature  could 
remove,  except  John  T.  Peters,  Esq.,  who  de- 
clared that  nothing  short  of  an  entire  repeal  of 
the  law  for  the  support  of  religion  would  accord 
with  his  idea." 

The  truth  of  the  matter  was  that  the  committee 
were  chiefly  Federalists.  Mr.  Peters  was  a  Re- 
publican. In  their  answer  to  the  petition,  the 
committee  assumed  that  it  "  was  an  equitable 
principle,  that  every  member  of  the  society  should, 
in  some  way,  contribute  to  the  support  of  reli- 
gious institutions  and  so  the  complaint  of  those 
who  declined  to  support  any  such  institution  was 
invalid."  If  there  was  ground  for  complaint 
because  of  sequestration  of  property  for  the  ben- 
efit of  Presbyterians  only,  the  committee  failed 
to  find  any  such  cause,  and  if  such  existed,  the 


428     THE   DEVELOPMENT  OF  RELIGIOUS 

proper  channel  of  appeal  was  through  the  courts. 
All  other  complaints  in  the  petition  were  con- 
sidered to  be  answered  by  the  assumption  that 
the  legislature  had  the  right,  on  the  ground  of 
utility,  to  compel  contributions  for  the  support 
of  religion,  schools,  and  courts,  whether  or  not 
every  individual  taxpayer  had  need  of  them.  The 
next  year,  1803,  the  petition  gained  a  hearing, 
but  that  was  all.  It  continued  to  be  presented 
at  every  session  of  the  Assembly,  and  was  first 
heard  by  both  houses  in  1815.  It  was  finally  with- 
drawn at  the  session  that  passed  the  bill  for  the 
new  constitution  of  1818. 

As  one  of  the  preliminary  steps  in  the  educa- 
tion of  the  people  in  Republican  principles  and 
aims,  John  Strong  of  Norwich  in  1804  founded 
the  "  True  Republican,"  thus  giving  a  second 
paper  for  the  dissemination  of  Republican  opin- 
ions. From  1792  the  "Phenix  or  Windham 
Herald  "  had  been  dealing  telling  blows  at  the 
Establishment  and  at  the  courts  of  law  through 
a  discussion  in  its  columns  carried  on  by  Judge 
Swift,  the  inveterate  foe  of  the  union  of  Church 
and  State,  and  a  lawyer,  frank  to  avow  that  par- 
tiality existed  in  the  administration  of  justice. 
Though  both  the  paper  and  the  judge  were 
strongly  Federal  in  their  politics,  they  were  both 
materially  helping  the  Republican  advocates  of 


LIBERTY  IN  CONNECTICUT  429 

reform.  From  the  Windham  press  came,  also,  a 
republication  of  "  A  Review  of  the  Ecclesiastical 
Establishments  of  Europe,"  edited  by  R.  Hunt- 
ington, with  special  reference  to  the  bearing  of  its 
arguments  upon  the  conditions  existing  in  Con- 
necticut, where  illustration  could  be  found  of  the 
absurdities  and  dangers  that  the  book  had  been 
originally  written  to  expose.  In  1803  John  Le- 
lancl,  representing  forty-two  Baptist  clergymen, 
twenty  licensed  exhorters,  four  thousand  commu- 
nicants, and  twenty  thousand  attendants,  sent 
out  another  plea  for  disestablishment  in  his  "  Van 
Tromp  lowering  his  Peak  with  a  Broadside,  con- 
taining a  Plea  for  the  Baptists  of  Connecticut." 
In  it  he  urges  that  thirteen  states  have  already 
granted  religious  liberty,  and  that  many  of 
them  have  formed  newer  constitutions  since  the 
Revolution.  Such  should  also  be  the  case  in 
Connecticut.  Moreover,  it  could  readily  be 
accomplished  at  the  small  cost  of  five  cents  per 
man.  Such  a  small  sum  would  pay  the  expenses 
of  a  convention  to  formulate  a  constitution  and 
another  to  ratify  it,  while  five  cents  more  per 
person  would  furnish  every  citizen  with  a  copy  of 
the  proposed  document,  so  that  each  could  decide 
for  himself  upon  the  constitutionality  of  any 
measure  proposed,  and  would  no  longer  be  obliged 
to  read  pamphlet  after  pamphlet  or  column  after 


430    THE   DEVELOPMENT  OF  RELIGIOUS 

column  in  the  newspaper  to  determine  its  valid- 
ity.203 

All  this  was  preparatory ;  and  the  first  purely 
political  note  of  warning-  and  call  to  battle  for  a 
new  constitution  was  sounded  by  Abraham  Bishop 
at  Hartford,  May  11,  1804,  in  his  "  Oration  in 
Honor  of  the  Election  of  President  Jefferson 
and  the  peaceful  acquisition  of  Louisiana."  He 
sums  up  the  situation  thus :  — 

Connecticut  has  no  Constitution.  On  the  day  inde- 
pendence was  declared,  the  old  charter  of  Charles  II 
became  null  and  void.  It  was  derived  from  royal 
authority,  and  went  down  with  royal  authority.  Then, 
the  people  ought  to  have  met  in  convention  and  framed 
a  Constitution.  But  the  General  Assembly  interposed, 
usurped  the  rights  of  the  people,  and  enacted  that  the 
government  provided  for  in  the  charter  should  be 
the  civil  constitution  of  the  State.  Thus  all  the  abuses 
inflicted  on  us  when  subjects  of  a  crown,  were  fastened 
on  us  anew  when  we  became  citizens  of  a  free  repub- 
lic. We  still  live  under  the  old  jumble  of  legislative, 
executive  and  judicial  powers,  called  a  Charter.  We 
still  suffer  from  the  old  restrictions  on  the  right  to 
vote ;  we  are  still  ruled  by  the  whims  of  seven  men. 
Twelve  make  the  council.  Seven  form  a  majority, 
and  in  the  hands  of  these  seven  are  all  powers,  legis- 
lative, executive  and  judicial.  Without  their  leave  no 
law  can  pass ;  no  law  can  be  repealed.  On  them  more 
than  half  of  the  House  of  the  Assembly  is  dependent 


LIBERTY  IN"  CONNECTICUT  431 

for  re-appointments  as  justices,  judges,  or  for  promo- 
tion in  the  militia.  By  their  breath  are,  each  year, 
brought  into  official  life  six  judges  of  the  Superior 
Court,  twenty-eight  of  the  probate,  forty  of  county 
courts,  and  five  hundred  and  ten  justices  of  the  peace, 
and,  as  often  as  they  please,  all  the  sheriffs.  Not 
only  do  they  make  laws,  but  they  plead  before  jus- 
tices of  their  own  appointment,  and  as  a  Court  of 
Errors  interpret  the  laws  of  their  own  making.  Is 
this  a  Constitution  ?  Is  this  an  instrument  of  govern- 
ment for  freemen  ?  And  who  may  be  freemen  ?  No 
one  who  does  not  have  a  freehold  estate  worth  seven 
dollars  a  year,  or  a  personal  estate  on  the  tax  list  of 
one  hundred  and  thirty-four  dollars.  .  .  .  For  these 
evils  there  is  but  one  remedy,  and  this  remedy  we 
demand  shall  be  applied.  We  demand  a  constitution 
that  shall  separate  the  legislative,  executive  and  judi- 
cial power,  extend  the  freeman's  oath  to  men  who 
labor  on  highways,  who  serve  in  the  militia,  who  pay 
small  taxes,  but  possess  no  estates.20* 

Abraham  Bishop  threw  down  the  gauntlet, 
and  in  the  following  July  his  party  issued  a  cir- 
cular letter.  It  emanated  from  the  Republican 
General  Committee,  of  which  Pierpont  Edwards 
was  chairman.  It  stated  "that  many  very  re- 
spectable Republicans  are  of  the  opinion  that 
it  is  high  time  to  speak  to  the  citizens  of  Con- 
necticut plainly  and  explicitly  on  the  subject  of 
forming  a  constitution ;  but  this  ought  not  to  be 


432     THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  RELIGIOUS 

done  without  the  approbation  of  the  party." 
A  general  meeting  was  proposed  to  be  held  in 
New  Haven  on  August  29,  1804.  In  response, 
ninety-seven  towns  sent  Republican  delegates  to 
assemble  at  the  state  house  in  New  Haven  on 
that  date.  Major  William  Judd  of  Farmington 
was  chosen  chairman.  The  meeting  was  held 
with  closed  doors,  and  a  series  of  resolutions 
was  passed  in  favor  of  adopting  a  new  constitu- 
tion. It  was  declared  "the  unanimous  opinion 
of  this  meeting  that  the  people  of  this  state  are 
at  present  without  a  constitution  of  civil  gov- 
ernment," and  "  that  it  is  expedient  to  take 
measures  preparatory  to  the  formation  of  the 
Constitution  and  that  a  committee  be  appointed 
to  draft  an  Address  to  the  People  of  this  State 
on  that  subject."  The  address  reported  by  this 
committee  was  printed  in  New  Haven  on  a  small 
half-sheet  with  double  columns,  and  ten  thou- 
sand copies  were  ordered  distributed  through  the 
state. 

The  issue  was  fairly  before  the  people.  From 
the  Federal  side,  just  before  the  September  elec- 
tions, came  David  Daggett's  "  Count  the  Cost," 
in  which  he  ably  reviewed  the  Republican  mani- 
festo, impugning  the  motives  of  the  leaders  of 
the  Republican  party,  and  eloquently  urging 
every  friend  of  the  Standing  Order  and  every 


LIBERTY   IN  CONNECTICUT  433 

freeman  to  "  count  the  cost "  before  voting  with 
the  Republicans  for  the  proposed  reform. 

The  fall  election  of  1804  was  lost  to  the  Re- 
publicans, for  while  they  made  many  gains  here 
and  there  throughout  the  state,®  the  immediate 
slight  access  to  the  Federal  ranks  showed  that 
the  people  generally  were  not  yet  ready  for  a 
constitutional  change. 

As  one  result  of  the  defeat  at  the  polls,  there 
arose  a  wider  sympathy  for  the  defeated  party. 
When  the  legislature  met  in  October,  the  Fed- 
eral leaders  resolved  to  administer  punishment 
to  the  defeated  Republicans.  So  strong  was  the 
popular  feeling,  and  so  determined  the  attitude 
of  the  legislature,  that  it  summoned  before  it 
all  five  of  the  justices  of  the  peace  b  who  had 
attended  the  New  Haven  convention  of  August 
29,  to  show  why  they  did  not  deserve  to  be  de- 
prived of  their  commissions.  Their  oath  of  office 
ran  "  to  be  true  and  faithful  to  the  Governor 
and  Company  of  this  state,  and  the  Constitution 
and  government  thereof."  What  right,  the  Fed- 
erals asked,  had  they  to  attack  a  constitution 
they  had  sworn  to  uphold  ?   At  the  same  time, 

a  Windham  County  was  steadily  Republican  after  this  elec- 
tion. 

b  Major  William  Judd  of  Farming-ton,  Jabez  H.  Tomlinson 
of  Stratford,  Augur  Judson  of  Huntington,  Hezekiah  Goodrich 
of  Chatham,  and  Nathaniel  Manning  of  Windham. 


434    THE   DEVELOPMENT   OF  RELIGIOUS 

several  of  the  militia,  known  to  be  of  Republi- 
can sympathies,  were  also  deposed  or  superseded. 
Mr.  Pierpont  Edwards  was  allowed  to  make 
the  defense  for  the  justices.  Mr.  Daggett  ap- 
peared for  the  state.  Reviewing  the  proceedings 
of  the  Republican  meeting,  Mr.  Daggett  traced 
the  history  of  the  government  of  the  colony 
and  state  in  order  to  demonstrate  that  the  char- 
ter was  peculiarly  a  constitution  of  the  people, 
"  made  by  the  people  and  in  a  sense  not  appli- 
cable to  any  other  people."  He  declared  the 
New  Haven  "  address "  an  outrage  upon  de- 
cency, and  it  to  be  the  duty  of  the  Assembly  to 
withdraw  their  commissions  from  men  who  ques- 
tioned the  existence  of  the  constitution  under 
which  they  held  them.  The  day  after  the  hear- 
ing, a  bill  to  revoke  the  commissions  was  passed 
unanimously  by  the  governor  and  council,  and 
by  a  majority  of  eleven  in  the  Lower  House,  the 
vote  standing  67  yeas  to  56  nays.  This  attempt 
to  stifle  public  opinion  won  a  general  acknow- 
ledgment that  the  minority  were  oppressed. 
The  feeling  of  sympathy  thus  roused  was  in- 
creased by  the  death  of  Major  Judd,  who  had 
been  taken  ill  after  his  arrival  in  New  Haven. 
His  partisans  asserted  that  his  death  was  caused 
by  his  efforts  to  save  himself  and  friends,  and 
his  consequent  obligation  to  appear  at  the  trial 


LIBERTY  IN  CONNECTICUT  435 

when  really  too  ill  to  be  about.  The  day  after 
his  death,  the  Republicans  published  and  dis- 
tributed broadcast  his  "  Address  to  the  people 
of  the  State  of  Connecticut  on  the  subject  of 
the  removal  of  himself  and  four  other  justices 
from  office." 

From  this  time  forward  the  minority  thor- 
oughly realized  that  it  was  "  not  a  matter  of 
talking  down  but  of  voting  down  their  oppo- 
nents." Their  leaders  also  understood  it.  Bishop 
.entered  the  lists,  not  only  against  his  political 
antagonist  David  Daggett,  but  against  such  men 
as  Professor  Silliman,  Simeon  Baldwin,  Noah 
Webster,  Theodore  Dwight,  and  against  the 
clergy,  led  by  President  Dwight,  Simon  Backus, 
Isaac  Lewis,  John  Evans,  and  a  host  of  sec- 
ondary men  who  turned  their  pulpits  into  lec- 
ture desks  and  the  public  fasts  and  feasts  into 
electioneering  occasions.  Their  general  plea  was 
that  religion  preserved  the  morals  of  the  people, 
and  consequently  their  civil  prosperity,  and 
hence  the  need  for  state  support.  Occasionally 
one  would  insist  that  it  was  a  matter  of  con- 
science with  the  Presbyterians  which  made  them 
enforce  ecclesiastical  taxes  and  fines,  and  that 
all  had  been  given  the  dissenters  that  could  be ; 
that  the  Presbyterians  had  "  yielded  every  privi- 
lege they  themselves  enjoyed  and  subjected  them 


436     THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  RELIGIOUS 

(the  dissenters)  to  no  inconvenience,  not  abso- 
lutely indispensable  to  the  countenance  of  the 
practice"  (of  dissent).  David  Daggett  main- 
tained that  there  was  a  just  and  wide-spread 
alarm  lest  the  Republicans  should  undermine  all 
religion,  and  therefore  it  behooved  all  the  friends 
of  stable  government  to  support  the  Standing 
Order. 

The  Republicans  vigorously  contested  the 
elections  of  1804, 1805,  and  1806.  Their  second 
general  convention,  that  of  August,  1806,  at 
Litchfield,  was  more  outspoken  in  its  criticism, 
and  so  much  bolder  in  its  demands  that  many 
conservative  people  hesitated  to  follow  its  pro- 
gramme. The  Republican  gains  were  so  small 
that  after  1806  there  was  a  lull  in  the  agitation 
for  constitutional  reform  for  some  years.  It  was 
well  understood  that  the  religious  establishment 
was  the  greatest  clog  upon  the  government.  It 
was  also  thoroughly  understood  by  many  that  its 
destruction  meant  the  destruction  of  the  Federal 
party  in  Connecticut.  Consequently  the  Fed- 
eral patronage  distributed  the  several  thousand 
offices  within  the  gift  of  Church  and  State  with  a 
"  liberality  equalled  only  by  the  fidelity  with 
which  they  were  paid  for."  So  firm  was  the 
Federal  control  over  the  state  that  even  in  1804 
they  risked  antagonizing  the  Episcopalians  by 


LIBERTY  IN  CONNECTICUT  437 

again  refusing  to  charter  the  Cheshire  Academy 
as  a  college  with  authority  to  confer  degrees  in 
art,  divinity,  and  law.  In  the  face  of  a  strong 
protest,  it  was  refused  again  in  1810.  The 
House  approved  this  last  petition,  but  the  Coun- 
cil rejected  it.  Naturally,  the  Episcopalians  felt 
still  more  aggrieved  when  in  1812  the  charter 
was  once  more  refused ;  but  still  they  did  not 
desert  the  Federal  party.  The  latter  clung  to 
the  spoils  of  office  for  their  partisans,  to  the  old 
restrictive  franchise,  and  to  the  obnoxious  Stand- 
up  Law,  nor  were  they  less  disdainful  of  the  dis- 
senters and  of  the  Republican  minority. 

Yet  many  of  their  best  men  had  come  to  feel  that 
there  was  wrong  and  injustice  done  the  minority ;  that 
there  should  be  a  stop  put  to  the  open  ignoring  of 
Democratic  lawyers,  numbering  in  their  ranks  many 
men  of  wide  learning  and  of  great  practical  ability ; 
that  the  spectacle  of  a  Federal  state-attorney  prosecut- 
ing Republican  editors  was  not  edifying,  and  that  the 
imprisonment  of  such  offenders  and  their  trial  before 
a  hostile  judiciary  opened  that  branch  of  the  state 
government  to  damaging  and  dangerous  suspicion.205 

In  July,  1812,  a  meeting  was  called  in  Judge 
Baldwin's  office  in  New  Haven,  with  President 
D  wight  in  the  chair,  to  organize  a  Society  for 
the  Suppression  of  Vice  and  the  Promotion  of 
Good  Morals.    At  this  meeting  the  political  sit- 


438    THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  RELIGIOUS 

uation  was  thoroughly  discussed,  and  measures 
were  taken  to  cope  with  it. 

I  am  persuaded  [wrote  the  Rev.  Lyman  Beecher 
to  Rev.  Asahel  Hooker  in  the  following  November] 
that  the  time  has  come  when  it  becomes  every  friend 
of  the  State  to  wake  up  and  exert  his  whole  influence 
to  save  it  from  innovation.  .  .  .  That  the  effort  to 
supplant  Governor  Smith"  will  be  made  is  certain 
unless  at  an  early  stage  the  noise  of  rising  opposition 
will  be  so  great  as  to  deter  them ;  and  if  it  is  made, 
a  separation  is  made  in  the  Federal  party  and  a 
coalition  with  Democracy,  which  will  in  my  opinion  be 
permanent,  unless  the  overthrow  by  the  election  should 
throw  them  into  despair  or  inspire  repentance. 

If  we  stand  idle  we  lose  our  habits  and  institutions 
piecemeal,  as  fast  as  innovations  and  ambitions  shall 
dare  to  urge  on  the  work. 

My  request  is  that  you  will  see  Mr.  Theodore 
Dwight,  expressing  to  him  your  views  on  the  subject, 
.  .  .  and  that  you  will  in  your  region  touch  every 
spring,  lay  or  clerical,  which  you  can  touch  prudently, 
that  these  men  do  not  steal  a  march  upon  us,  and  that 
the  rising  opposition  may  meet  them  early,  before 
they  have  gathered  strength.  Every  blow  struck  now 
will  have  double  the  effect  it  will  after  the  parties  are 
formed  and  the  lines  drawn.  I  hope  we  shall  not  act 
independently,  but  I  hope  we  shall  all  act,  who  fear 
God  or  regard  men.206 

Writing  of  the  meeting  to  organize  the  Society 

a  Federalist. 


LIBERTY   IN   CONNECTICUT  439 

for  the  Suppression  of  Vice  and  the  Formation 
of  Good  Morals,  Dr.  Beecher  in  his  "Auto- 
biography" gives  a  sketch  of  the  politics  of 
the  time  that  had  led  up  to  -the  occasion.  One 
of  the  prominent  actors  of  the  time,  he  tells  us 
that  this  meeting,  composed  of  prominent  Feder- 
alists of  all  classes,  was  unusual,  for  — 

it  was  a  new  thing  in  that  day  for  the  clergy  and 
laymen  to  meet  on  the  same  level  and  co-operate.  It 
was  the  first  time  there  had  ever  been  such  a  consulta- 
tion in  our  day.  The  ministers  had  always  managed 
tilings  themselves,  for  in  those  days  the  ministers 
were  all  politicians.  They  had  always  been  used  to 
it  from  the  beginning.  .  .  .  On  election  day  they  had 
a  festival,  and,  fact  is,  when  they  got  together  they 
would  talk  over  who  should  be  Governor,  and  who 
Lieutenant-Governor,  and  who  in  the  Upper  House, 
and  their  councils  would  prevail.  Now  it  was  a  part 
of  the  old  steady  habits  of  the  state  .  .  .  that  the 
Lieutenant-Governor  should  succeed  to  the  governor- 
ship. And  it  was  the  breaking  up  of  this  custom  by 
the  civilians,  against  the  influence  of  the  clergy,  that 
first  shook  the  stability  of  the  Standing  Order  and 
the  Federal  party  in  the  state.  Lieutenant  Governor 
Treadwell  (1810)  was  a  stiff  man,  and  the  time  had 
come  when  many  men  did  not  like  that  sort  of  thing. 
He  had  been  active  in  the  enforcement  of  the  Sabbath 
laws,  and  had  brought  on  himself  the  odium  of  the 
opposing  party.  Hence  of  the  civilians  of  our  party, 
David    Daggett  and  other  wire-pullers,   worked  to 


440    THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  RELIGIOUS 

have  him  superseded,  and  Roger  Griswold,  the  ablest 
man  in  Congress,  put  in  his  stead.  That  was  rank 
rebellion  against  the  ministerial  candidate.  But  Dag- 
gett controlled  the  whole  of  Fairfield  County  bar,  and 
Griswold  was  a  favorite  with  the  lawyers,  and  the 
Democrats  helped  them  because  they  saw  how  it  would 
work ;  so  there  was  no  election  by  the  people,  and 
Tread  well  was  acting  Governor  till  1811,  when  Gris- 
wold was  chosen.  The  lawyers,  in  talking  about  it, 
said :  "  We  have  served  the  clergy  long  enough  ;  we 
must  take  another  man,  and  they  must  look  out  for 
themselves."  Throwing  Treadwell  over  in  1811  broke 
the  charm  and  divided  the  party ;  persons  of  third- 
rate  ability  on  our  side  who  wanted  to  be  somebody 
deserted ;  all  the  infidels  in  the  state  had  long  been 
leading  on  that  side  .  .  .  minor  sects  had  swollen 
and  complained  of  certificates.  Our  efforts  to  reform 
morals  by  law  were  unpopular."  Finally  the  Episco- 
palians went  over  to  the  Democrats. 

"  "  To  preserve  our  institutions  and  reform  public  morals, 
to  bring  back  tbe  keeping1  of  tbe  Sabbath  was  our  aim.  .  .  We 
tried  to  do  it  by  resuscitating  and  enforcing  the  law  (That  was 
our  mistake,  but  we  did  not  know  it  then.)  and  wherever  I 
went  I  pushed  that  thing ;  Bear  up  the  laws —  execute  the  laws. 
.  .  .  We  took  hold  of  it  in  the  Association  at  Fairfield,  June, 
1814,  .  .  .  recommending  among  other  things  a  petition  to 
Congress."  (Autobiography,!,  268.)  At  this  meeting  originated 
the  famous  petition  against  Sunday  mail. 

Dr.  Beecher  urged  a  domestic  missionary  society  to  build  up 
waste  places  in  Connecticut.  His  sermon  "  Reformation  of 
Morals  practicable  and  desirable  "  warned  against  "  profane 
and  profligate  men  of  corrupt  minds  and  to  every  good  work 
reprobate." 


LIBERTY  IN   CONNECTICUT  441 

The  Episcopal  split  was  clue  to  a  foolish  and 
arbitrary  proceeding  on  the  part  of  the  Federals. 
In  the  spring  of  1814,  a  petition  was  presented 
to  the  General  Assembly  for  the  incorporation 
of  the  Phoenix  Bank  of  Hartford,  offering  "  in 
conformity  to  the  precedents  in  other  states,  to 
pay  for  the  privilege  of  the  incorporation  herein 
prayed  for,  the  sum  of  sixty  thousand  dollars  to 
be  collected  (being  a  Premium  to  be  advanced 
by  the  stockholders)  as  fast  as  the  successive  in- 
stalments of  the  capital  stock  shall  be  paid  in ; 
and  to  be  appropriated,  if  in  the  opinion  of  your 
Honors  it  shall  be  deemed  expedient,  in  such 
proportion  as  shall  by  your  Honors  be  thought 
proper,  to  the  use  of  the  Corporation  of  Yale 
College,  of  the  Medical  Institution,  established 
in  the  city  of  New  Haven,  and  to  the  corporation 
of  the  Trustees  of  the  Fund  of  the  Bishop  of  the 
Episcopal  church  in  this  state,  or  for  any  purpose 
whatever,  which  to  your  Honors  may  seem  best." 
The  capital  asked  for  was  11,500,000.  «  The 
purpose  of  this  offer  a  was  a  double  one,  —  creat- 
ing an  interest  in  favor  of  the  Bank  Charter 
among  Episcopalians  and  retaining  their  in- 
fluence on  the  side  of  the  Charter  Govern- 
ment, as  there  was  no  inconsiderable  amount 
of  talent   among   them."     The  Bishop's  Fund, 

a  Judge  Church. 


442    THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  RELIGIOUS 

slowly  gathering  since  1799,  amounted  to  barely 
#6000.  This  bonus  would  give  it  a  good  start, 
and  conciliate  the  Episcopalians,  still  indignant 
at  the  refusal  of  the  Assembly  to  incorporate 
their  college.  When  presented  to  the  Assembly, 
the  Lower  House  favored  the  bank  charter ; 
the  Council,  rejecting  it,  appointed  a  committee 
to  consider  its  request.  They  soon  originated 
an  act  of  incorporation,  granting  a  capital  of 
11,000,000,  and  ordered  the  bonus  to  be  paid 
into  the  treasury.  An  act  of  incorporation,  rather 
than  a  petition,  was,  they  claimed,  the  way  es- 
tablished by  custom  of  granting  bank  charters. 
The  same  session  of  the  legislature  originated 
bills  giving  $20,000  to  the  Medical  Institution 
of  Yale  College,  and  one  of  the  same  amount  to 
the  Bishop's  Fund,  "  in  conformity  to  the  offer 
of  the  petitioners  for  the  Phoenix  Bank,  and  out 
of  the  first  moneys  received  from  it  as  a  bonus." 
The  bill  for  the  medical  school  was  passed  unan- 
imously by  the  House ;  that  for  the  Bishop's 
Fund  uniformly  voted  down.0  The  Episcopalians, 

a  The  final  speech  in  favor  of  the  bill  was  made  by  Nathan 
Smith,  a  lawyer  of  New  Haven.  When  he  had  finished  his 
eloquent  setting  forth  of  the  benefits  and  dangers  attendant 
upon  passing  the  bill,  there  was  an  unusual  and  solemn  silence. 
Dr.  Gillett  says  if  the  bill  had  been  promptly  put  to  vote  it 
would  probably  have  been  passed,  but  the  churchlike  silence 
was  broken  by  a  shrill  voice  piping  forth,  "  Mr.  Speaker,  Mr. 


LIBERTY  IN  CONNECTICUT  443 

to  wham  the  Republicans  were  quick  to  offer  their 
sympathy,  asserted  that  by  the  "  grant  to  Yale 
the  legislature  had  committed  themselves  in  good 
faith  to  make  the  grant  to  the  two  other  corpo- 
rations connected  with  it  in  the  same  petition."  ° 
Stripped  of  formal  and  courteous  wording,  the 
petition,  both  in  letter  and  in  spirit,  had  offered 
its  conditions  to  all,  if  accepted  by  one;  or,  if 
refused  at  all,  the  opportunity  to  divert  the  money 
from  all  three  recipients  to  some  other  and  quite 
different  use  which  should  be  approved  by  the 
legislature. 

The  further  bad  faith  of  both  branches  of  the 
Assembly  increased  the  enmity  of  the  Episco- 
palians. In  the  spring  of  1815,  they  petitioned 
for  their  first  installment  of  $  10,000.  They  were 
told  that  the  treasury  was  empty,  and  that  war 
time  was  no  time  to  attend  to  such  matters.  In 
the  fall,  in  answer  to  their  second  petition,  they 
found  the  Lower  House  still  hostile  ;  the  major- 
ity of  the  Council,  including  the  governor,  in 
their  favor,  until  the  discussion  came  up,  when 
the  Council,  with  one  exception,  sided  with  the 
House.    The  explanation  of  the  change  appeared 

Speaker,  what  shall  we  sing  ?  "  The  laughter  which  followed 
broke  the  orator's  charm  and  sealed  the  fate  of  the  bill. 

a  See  Columbian  Register  of  June  17,  1820,  for  a  full  account 
of  the  Bishop's  Fund  and  the  final  award  of  the  bonus. 


444  RELIGIOUS  LIBERTY  IN  CONNECTICUT 

to  the  Episcopalians  to  be  due  to  the  fact  that 
during  the  session  the  Medical  School  had  peti- 
tioned for  the  balance  of  the  $30,000,  and  seemed 
likely  to  receive  it  at  the  spring  meeting.  This 
was  too  much  for  the  Episcopalians,  and  there- 
after the  Democrats  claimed  nine  tenths  of  their 
vote.  The  sect  was  estimated  in  1816  to  contain 
from  one  eleventh  to  one  thirteenth  of  the  popula- 
tion. The  Democratic-Republicans  had  won  over 
discontented  radicals,  a  majority  of  the  dissatis- 
fied dissenters,  a  few  conservatives,  and  now  the 
indignant  Episcopalians.  Their  political  hopes 
rose  higher,  but  the  War  of  1812-1814  interfered, 
substituting  national  interests  for  local  ones,  yet 
all  the  while  adding  recruits  to  the  Republican 
ranks,  so  that  at  its  close  there  was  a  strong 
party.  There  was  also  a  Federal  faction  in  pro- 
cess of  disintegration.  The  result  was  that  when 
the  constitutional  reform  movement  again  became 
the  issue  of  the  day,  though  supported  by  the 
Republicans,  the  question  at  issue  soon  drew  to 
itself  a  new  political  combine  which  under  vari- 
/  ous  forms  kept  the  name  of  the  Toleration  Party, 
and  which  eventually  won  the  victory  for  reli- 
gious freedom  and  disestablishment. 


CHAPTER   XV 

DISESTABLISHMENT 
No  distinction  shall  I  make  between  Trojan  and  Tyrian. 

The  Federal  grip  upon  Connecticut,  one  of  the 
last  strongholds  of  that  party,  was  weakening. 
Preceding  the  deflection  of  the  Episcopalians  in 
Connecticut,  there  had  been  throughout  New 
England  a  strong  Federal  opposition  to  the  na- 
tional government  and  its  commands  during  the 
War  of  1812.  Such  conduct  had  shattered  party- 
prestige,  and  when  its  opposition  culminated  in 
the  Hartford  Convention  of  1814,  it  wrote  its 
own  death-warrant.  The  Republicans,  on  the 
contrary,  had  dropped  local  questions  of  consti- 
tutional reform  and  religious  liberty,  preferring 
to  bend  all  their  energies  to  the  support  of  the 
general  government.  When  as  a  national  party 
they  humbled  England  and  brought  the  war  to 
a  victorious  close,  the  contrast  of  their  loyalty 
to  state  and  national  interests  steadily  drew  the 
popular  favor.  In  the  era  of  good  feeling  and 
prosperity  that  followed,  the  great  national  polit- 


446    THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  RELIGIOUS 

ical  parties  dissolved  somewhat  and  crystallized 
anew.  In  Connecticut  a  similar  change  took 
place  in  local  politics.  In  the  years  immediately 
following  the  war,  the  Democratic-Republicans, 
the  majority  of  the  dissenters,  and  the  dissatis- 
fied among  the  Federalists,  formed  different  co- 
alitions that,  under  the  general  name  of  Toler- 
ation,'7 opposed  the  Standing  Order.  In  1816  the 
agitation  for  constitutional  reform  was  revived, 
and  after  three  years  resulted  in  the  overthrow 
of  the  Federalists  and  the  triumph  of  a  peaceful 
revolution  whereby  religious  liberty  was  assured. 
The  conduct  of  the  Federal  party,  both  within 
and  without  Connecticut  from  1808  to  1815, 
was  quite  as  much  the  real  cause  of  their  down- 
fall in  the  state  as  that  coalition  between  clergy 
and  lawyers  described  by  Dr.  Beecher  as  causing 
the  breakdown  of  party  machinery  and  its  ulti- 
mate ruin.  Glancing  somewhat  hastily  at  some 
of  the  most  far-reaching  acts  of  the  Federalists, 
we  find  first  the  Federal  opposition  to  the  em- 
bargo that  from  December  22,  1807,  for  over  a 
year  paralyzed  New  England  commerce.  In 
February,  1809,  John  Quincy  Adams,  who  had 
recently  resigned  the  Massachusetts  senatorship 
because  of  his  unpopular  support  of  the  embargo, 

a  Party  names  were  "  American,"  "American  and  Tolera- 
tion," "Toleration  and  Reform." 


LIBERTY   IN  CONNECTICUT  447 

informed  President  Jefferson  that  the  measure 
could  no  longer  be  enforced.  He  assured  the 
President  that  the  New  England  Federalist 
leaders,  privily  encouraged  by  England,  were 
preparing  to  break  that  section  off  from  the 
union  of  the  states  if  the  embargo  were  not 
speedily  repealed.  This  information,  whether 
accurate  or  not,  so  influenced  the  President  and 
his  advisers  that  the  Non-intercourse  Act,  apply- 
ing only  to  France  and  England,  replaced  the 
embargo,  whose  repeal  took  effect  from  March  4, 
1809.  In  the  following  December,  Madison's 
administration  (in  the  belief  that  France  had 
withdrawn  her  hostile  decrees)  limited  non-inter- 
course to  England  alone,  after  having  vainly 
urged  upon  her  a  repeal  of  her  Orders  in  Coun- 
cil. With  the  embargo  lifted,  New  England 
commerce  revived,  and  Connecticut  seamen,  Con- 
necticut farmers,0  Connecticut  merchants,  to- 
gether with  artisans  of  all  the  allied  industries 
that  were  called  upon  in  the  fitting  out  of  ships 
and  cargoes,  enjoyed  two  years  of  prosperity. 
The  period  was  given  over  to  money-getting,  and 
the  ordinary  rules  of  national  or  commercial 
honesty  were  flung  to  the  winds.  Napoleon  sold 
licenses  to  British  vessels  to  supply  his  famish- 

«  Three  fourths  of  Connecticut's  exports  were  products  of 
agriculture. 


448    THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  RELIGIOUS 

ing  soldiers  stationed  in  continental  ports,  while 
forged  American  and  British  papers  were  openly 
sold  in  London.  So  enormous  were  the  profits 
of  a  successful  voyage  that  the  possibility  of 
capture  only  added  zest  to  the  American  ven- 
tures and  contributed  not  a  little  to  the  daring 
of  the  privateers  in  the  years  of  the  war.  So 
enriched  was  the  state  that  by  May,  1811,  Con- 
necticut had  so  far  recovered  from  her  late  finan- 
cial distress  that  the  "  state  owed  no  debt  and 
every  tax  was  paid,"  while  her  exports  were: 
domestic,  1994,216;  foreign,  $38,138,  or  a  total 
of  $1,032,354. 

The  ninety  days'  embargo  of  1812,  the  decla- 
ration of  war  (June  18, 1812),  and  the  patrolling 
of  Long  Island  Sound  by  a  British  fleet,  brought 
such  desolation  to  Connecticut  that  ships  again 
lay  rotting  at  the  wharves,  ropewalks  and  ware- 
houses were  deserted,  cargoes  were  without  car- 
riers, and  seamen  were  either  scattered  or  idling 
about,  a  constant  menace  to  the  public  peace. 
National  taxes  to  support  a  detested  war  were 
laid  upon  the  people  at  a  time  when  their  in- 
comes were  ceasing,  and  their  homes  and  pro- 
perty were  laid  bare  to  a  plundering  enemy.  "  A 
nation  without  fleets,  without  armies,  with  an 
impoverished  treasury,  with  a  frontier  by  sea  and 
land  extending  many  hundreds  of  miles,  feebly 


LIBERTY  IN  CONNECTICUT  449 

defended "  by  fortifications  old  and  neglected, 
had  rushed  headlong  into  war  with  the  strongest 
nation  of  the  earth  without  "  counting  the  cost." 
Such  was  the  opinion  of  the  Federalists  every- 
where and,  at  first,  of  the  large  wing  of  the  Re- 
publican party  who  preferred  peace.  The  Fed- 
eralists of  Connecticut,  when  they  saw  a  small 
majority  sweep  the  nation  into  the  conflict  with 
Great  Britain,  believed  the  war  threatened  lib- 
erty of  speech.  They  feared  military  despotism, 
when  the  general  government  demanded  the 
control  of  the  militia ;  and  that  the  war  would 
prostrate  "  their  civil  and  religious  institutions 
by  increasing  taxation  and  loss  of  income."0 
They  feared  " national  dismemberment"  when 
the  war  measures,  together  with  the  presence  of 
the  British  fleet  blockading  the  coast,  alternately 
angered  the  people  almost  to  rebellion  against  an 
apparently  indifferent  central  government,  or 
drove  them  into  plans  for  self-defense.  Much 
of  the  opposition  in  New  England  is  in  part  ac- 
counted for  by  the  rebound  towards  Federalism 
which  the  declaration  of  the  war  caused,  and  by 

a  u  All  institutions,  civil,  literary  and  ecclesiastical,  felt  the 
pressure,  and  seemed  as  if  they  must  be  crushed.  Our  schools, 
churches  and  government  even,  in  the  universal  impoverish- 
ment, were  failing  and  the  very  foundations  were  shaken,  when 
God  interposed  and  took  off  the  pressure."  —  Lyman  Beecher, 
Autobiography,  i,  266. 


450    THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  RELIGIOUS 

the  belief  that  the  national  election  of  1812 
would  be  a  Federal  victory.  Though  it  turned 
out  to  be  a  defeat,  it  consolidated  and  so  strength- 
ened that  party  in  New  England  that  before  the 
close  of  1813  all  the  state  executives  were  Fed- 
eralists and  were  arrayed  against  the  administra- 
tion. The  Republicans  kept  their  hold  upon 
the  minority,  partly  by  the  diversion  of  the 
capital,  thrown  out  of  the  carrying  trade,  into 
privateer  ventures,  war  supplies,  and  manufac- 
tures. 

At  the  beginning  of  the  war,  Governor  Gris- 
wold,  of  Connecticut,  backed  by  both  houses  of 
the  legislature,  joined  with  Governor  Strong 
of  Massachusetts  (supported  only  by  the  House 
of  Representatives)  in  a  refusal  to  place  the  mili- 
tia under  regular  officers  of  the  United  States 
army.  They  refused  also  to  allow  the  quotas 
called  for  by  General  Dearborn  (under  the  Act 
of  Congress  of  April  10,  1812),  for  the  expedi- 
tion against  Canada,  to  leave  the  state.  These 
executives  claimed  that  the  troops  were  not  needed 
to  execute  the  laws  of  the  United  States,  to  sup- 
press insurrection,  or  to  repel  invasion, —  the  only 
three  constitutional  reasons  giving  the  President 
the  right  to  consider  himself  "  commander  in 
chief  of  the  militia  of  the  several  states."  20r  By 
taking  such  a  stand,  the  state  governors  assumed 


LIBERTY  IN  CONNECTICUT  451 

to  decide  whether  a  necessity  existed  that  gave 
the  President  his  constitutional  right  to  call  out 
the  militia.  Mr.  Henry  Cabot  Lodge,  in  his 
"  Memoir  of  Governor  Strong,"  exonerates  that 
executive  by  pleading  his  intense  convictions  of 
duty,  his  loyal  patriotism,  and  his  later  efficient 
aid  a  in  defending  the  eastern  coast  of  the  state. 
Mr.  Lodge  reminds  his  reader  that  the  gov- 
ernor's position  was  supported  by  the  best  law- 
yers, whom  he  had  been  at  great  pains  to  consult 
concerning  state  and  federal  rights,  which,  at 
that  period,  had  not  been  so  carefully  examined 
and  discriminated  between  as  since.  The  same 
pleas  may  be  urged  for  Governors  Griswold b  and 
Smith.  The  Connecticut  legislature  immediately 
passed  an  act  for  raising  twenty-six  hundred  men 
for  state  defense  under  state  officers.  Governor 
Griswold's  successor,  Gov.  J.  Cotton  Smith,  when 
Decatur  was  blockaded  in  the  Thames,  when  the 
descent  upon  Saybrook  was  made,  at  the  attack 
upon  Stonington,  and  during  those  months  when 
the  enemy  hovered  upon  the  long  exposed  coast 
line,  kept  a  large  force  of  militia  ready  for  duty. 
The   state  supported  these    troops,  for,  in   the 

a  The  Massachusetts  militia  were  placed  under  General  Dear- 
born, August  5,  1812. 

6  Governor  Griswold  died  October,  1812,  and  was  succeeded 
in  office  by  Lieutenant-Governor  John  Cotton  Smith. 


452    THE   DEVELOPMENT  OF  RELIGIOUS 

wrangle  over  officership,   the   national   govern- 
ment refused  the  promised  supplies. 

The  New  England  Federalists  soon  found  seven 
great  reasons  for  party  action.  They  were  the 
uncertain  success  of  the  war  by  land ;  the  great 
commercial  distress ;  °  the  possession  by  the 
enemy  of  a  large  part  of  Maine  ;  the  publication 
of  the  terms  upon  which  England  would  grant 
peace ; b  the  proposed  legislation  in  the  fall  of 
1814,  providing  for  the  increase  of  the  United 
States  army  by  draft  or  conscription ;  the  pro- 
posed modified  form  of  impressment  of  sailors  ; 
and  the  bill  allowing  army  officers  to  enlist  mi- 
nors and  apprentices  over  eighteen  years  of  age, 

a  The  direct  tax  laid  July  22-24,  1813,  by  the  national  gov- 
ernment, was  apportioned  in  September,  as  follows :  To  Mas- 
sachusetts, $316,270.71  ;  to  Rhode  Island,  $34,702.1S;  and  to 
Connecticut,  $118,167.71,  divided  as  follows  (which  shows 
the  relative  wealth  of  the  different  sections  of  the  state), 
Litchfield,  $19,065.72  ;  Fairfield,  $18,810.50  ;  New  Haven, 
$16,723.10  ;  Hartford,  $19,608.02  ;  New  London,  $13,392.04 ; 
Middlesex,  $9,064.20;  Windham,  $14,524.38;  and  Tolland, 
$6,984.69.  Duties  were  levied  upon  refined  sugar,  carriages, 
upon  licenses  to  distilleries,  auction  sales  of  merchandise  and 
vessels,  upon  retailers  of  wine,  spirits,  and  foreign  merchandise; 
while  a  stamp  tax  was  placed  upon  notes  and  hills  of  ex- 
change.—  See  Niles  Register,  v,  17;  Schoulir.  ii.  380.  The 
tax  in  1815  was  $236,335.41.  —  Niles,  vii,  348. 

b  Briefly,  an  independent  Indian  nation  between  Canada 
and  the  United  States  ;  no  fleets  or  military  posts  on  the  Great 
Lakes,  and  no  renunciation  of  the  English  rights  of  search  and 
impressment. 


LIBERTY  IN  CONNECTICUT  453 

with  or  without  consent  of  parents  or  guardians.0 
These  measures  drove  the  New  England  Federal- 
ists, at  the  call  of  Massachusetts,  to  the  formation 
of  the  Hartford  Convention.  The  Connecticut 
legislature  approved  the  sending  of  delegates  by 
a  vote  of  153  to  36  opposed.  Massachusetts  and 
Ehode  Island  answered  with  like  enthusiasm. 
New  Hampshire  and  Vermont  hesitated,  but  the 
counties  of  Cheshire  and  Grafton  in  the  former 
state  and  of  Windham  in  the  latter  sent  each  a 
delegate  to  the  convention.  Rhode  Island  sent 
four  delegates  and  Massachusetts  twelve,  of  whom 
George  Cabot  was  elected  president  of  the  con- 
vention. Connecticut  furnished  the  secretary  of 
the  convention,  and  later  its  historian  in  Theo- 
dore Dwight  of  Hartford.  She  also  sent  seven 
other  delegates,  namely  :  Chauncey  Goodrich, 
mayor  of  Hartford,  and  from  1814  to  1815  gov- 
ernor of  the  state :  John  Tread  well,  ex-governor  ; 

a  The  April  (1815)  session  of  the  Connecticut  legislature 
passed  an  "  Act  to  secure  the  rights  of  parents,  masters  and 
guardians."  It  declared  the  proposed  legislation  in  Congress 
contrary  to  the  spirit  of  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States, 
and  an  unauthorized  interference  with  state  rights.  It  com- 
manded all  state  judges  to  discharge  on  habeas  corpus  all 
minors  enlisted  without  consent  of  parents  or  guardians,  and 
it  enacted  a  fine,  not  to  exceed  five  hundred  dollars,  upon  any 
one  found  guilty  of  enlisting  a  minor  against  the  consent  of 
his  guardian,  and  a  fine  of  one  hundred  dollars  for  the  adver- 
tising or  publication  of  enticements  to  minors  to  enlist. 


454    THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  RELIGIOUS 

James  Hillliouse,  who  had  served  as  United  States 
representative  and  senator ;  Zephaniah  Swift, 
United  States  representative  and  later  chief 
judge  of  superior  court  of  Connecticut ;  Calvin 
Goddard,  United  States  representative  ;  Na- 
thaniel Smith,  United  States  representative  and 
later  judge  of  the  supreme  court ;  and  Roger 
Minot  Sherman,  a  distinguished  lawyer  and 
member  of  the  state  legislature.  All  the  dele- 
gates to  the  Hartford  Convention  were  men  of 
high  character,  and  most  of  them  well-known 
leaders  of  the  Federal  party.  The  convention 
lasted  for  three  weeks,  and,  as  its  sessions  were 
conducted  with  the  greatest  secrecy,  many  preju- 
dicial rumors  and  surmises  arose.  The  Massa- 
chusetts summons  had  bidden  the  delegates  con- 
vene for  measures  of  safety  "  not  repugnant  to  our 
obligations  as  members  of  the  Union,"  and  the 
convention  acknowledged  that  it  found  the  great- 
est difficulty  in  "  devising  means  of  defense 
against  dangers,  and  of  relief  from  oppressions 
proceeding  from  the  act  of  their  own  Govern- 
ment without  violating  constitutional  principles 
or  disappointing  the  hopes  of  a  suffering  and 
injured  people."  The  secrecy,  the  known  ant- 
agonism to  the  Administration,  the  knowledge 
of  New  England's  early  disbelief  in  the  cohe- 
sive power  of  the  Union,  and  the  convention's 


LIBERTY  IN  CONNECTICUT  455 

demands  and  resolutions,  combined  to  give  a  bad 
and  traitorous  reputation  to  the  Hartford  Con- 
vention that  has  never  been  absolutely  cleared 
away. 

As  early  as  1796,  over  the  signature  "  Pel- 
ham,"  there  had  appeared  in  the  "  Hartford  Cou- 
rant"  a  series  of  articles  written  with  great 
ability  and  keen  foresight  as  to  the  difficulties 
that  would  arise  in  making  any  impartial  legis- 
lation for  a  nation  composed  of  parts  having 
such  diverse  economic  systems  as  those  of  the 
North  and  the  South.  The  articles  suggested 
the  development  of  two  nations  instead  of 
one.  During  the  War  of  1812,  various  sugges- 
tions had  been  thrown  out  by  different  news- 
papers enlarging  upon  the  resources  of  New 
England  and  hinting  at  a  separate  peace  with 
England.  There  were  not  a  few  who,  upon  learn- 
ing of  the  resolutions  of  the  convention,  felt 
that  "  Pelham  "  was  a  close  adviser  of  its  mea- 
sures if  not  one  of  its  delegates.  Public  opinion 
was  so  wrought  up  by  the  assumed  disloyalty  of 
the  Hartford  Convention  that  in  1815  it  forced 
the  publication  of  the  convention's  brief  and 
non-committal  "  Journal."  From  it  little  more 
was  learned  than  that  the  convention  had  re- 
solved that  the  different  states  should  take  mea- 
sures to  protect  themselves  against  draft  by  the 


456     THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  RELIGIOUS 

national  government,  that  New  England  should 
be  allowed  to  defend  herself,  and  for  that  pur- 
pose should  have  returned  to  each  of  her  states 
a  reasonable  share  of  the  national  taxes  to  meet 
the  expense  of  their  arming.  In  addition,  each 
New  England  state  should  set  apart  a  certain 
portion  of  her  militia  under  her  governor  to  give 
aid  in  cases  of  extremity  shoidd  she  be  called 
upon  by  the  governor  of  another  state.  At  the 
close  of  the  convention,  delegates  were  appointed 
to  proceed  to  Washington  with  these  resolutions 
and  also  with  six  proposed  amendments  a  to  the 
national  constitution.  These  demands  and  re- 
solves were  reinforced  by  the  proposal  that 
should  the  Administration  refuse  to  consider  the 
propositions,  another  convention  should  be  held  in 
the  following  summer  to  consider  further  action. 
When  the  delegates  arrived  in  Washington  with 
the  resolutions,  of  which  two  state  legislatures  had 
meantime  approved,  the  news  of  peace  had  been 
declared.    In  the  general  jubilation  they  saw  fit 

a  Amendments  :  (1)  Restrictions  npon  Congress  requiring-  a 
two  thirds  vote  in  making  and  declaring  war,  (2)  in  laying 
embargoes,  and  (3)  in  admitting  new  states.  (4)  Restriction  of 
the  presidential  office  to  one  term  without  reelection,  and  with 
no  two  successive  Presidents  from  the  same  state.  (6)  Reduc- 
tion of  representation  and  taxation  by  not  reckoning  the  blacks 
in  the  slave  states.  (G)  No  foreign  born  citizen  should  be  eligi- 
ble to  office. 


LIBERTY  IN   CONNECTICUT  457 

to  leave  their  message  undelivered.  For  years 
the  taint  of  rebellion  clung  to  the  Hartford  Con- 
vention, and  forced  its  secretary,  in  1833,  to  pub- 
lish his  "  History,"  a  defense  of  its  members  and 
their  measures.  Even  this  did  not  remove  the 
stigma.  The  delegates  had  in  their  own  com- 
munities always  retained  their  reputation  for 
high  personal  character,  but  politically  they  were 
irretrievably  ruined  by  their  participation  in  the 
Hartford  gathering.  They  had  dealt  their  party 
in  their  states  a  mortal  blow,  and  the  Hartford 
Convention  has  been  well  named  "  the  grave  of 
the  Federal  party." 

However  much  the  members  of  the  convention 
swathed  their  sentiments  in  expressions  of  alle- 
giance to  the  Union,  at  least  until  extreme  pro- 
vocation should  force  a  separation ;  or  however 
much  they  declared  their  conviction  that  peace, 
not  war,  should  be  the  time  chosen  for  such 
a  separation,  and  that,  first  of  all,  distinction 
should  be  carefully  made  between  a  bad  consti- 
tution and  a  bad  government,  and  a  good  con- 
stitution or  government  badly  administered, 
there  was  no  doubt  but  that  they  proposed  to 
push  nullification  to  the  point  of  active  resist- 
ance within  what  they  considered  their  legal 
rights.  They  had  also  proposed  a  set  of  amend- 
ments which  they  knew  stood  no  chance  of  meet- 


458    THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  RELIGIOUS 

ing  with  approval  from  any  number  of  the  states. 
Moreover  the  Hartford  Convention,  whatever  its 
intentions,  seriously  alarmed  and  embarrassed 
the  Administration.  Because  of  the  consequences 
of  their  policy,  its  members  were  culpable  in  the 
opinion  of  all  who  hold  that,  in  the  distress  of 
war,  to  hamper  one's  own  government  is  to  lend 
assistance  to  the  enemy.0 

The  war  at  first  was  not  popular,  but  made 
friends  for  itself  as  it  progressed.  Connecticut 
sailors  were  among  the  seamen  that  England  had 
impressed,  and  Connecticut  captains  had  sur- 
rendered ships  and  rich  cargoes  at  the  command 
of  the  mistress  of  the  seas.  But  the  naval  tri- 
umphs of  the  first  year  caught  the  popular  fancy, 
for  "  not  until  the  Guerriere's  colors  were  struck 
to  the  Constitution  had  a  British  frigate  been 
humiliated  on  the  ocean."  The  victories  on  land 
were  about  equally  balanced.  The  disclosures  of 
English  perfidy  in  attempting  through  her  secret 
agents  b  to  detach  New  England  from  the  Union 

a  "  They  advocated  nullification  and  threatened  dissolution 
of  the  Union."  —  J.  P.  Gordy,  Political  History  of  the  United 
States,  ii,  209. 

b  The  President  in  March,  1812,  sent  to  Congress  the  docu- 
ments for  which  he  had  paid  one  John  Henry  $50,000.  The 
latter  claimed  to  be  an  agent  sent  from  Canada  in  1809 
to  detach  New  England  Federalists  from  their  allegiance  to 
the  Union.  Congress  by  resolution  proclaimed  the  validity  of  the 


LIBERTY   IN   CONNECTICUT  459 

before  war  should  break  out,  and  during  the 
conflict,  by  favoritism  to  Massachusetts,  helped 
to  increase  the  supporters  of  the  war  policy. 
Further,  the  war  brought  out  the  latent  powers 
of  the  nation,  both  for  defense  and  for  prosper- 
ity. The  gradual  introduction  of  machinery  since 
1800  had  enlarged  the  small  manufactories  of 
Connecticut,  and  begun  the  exchange  of  products 
between  near  localities.  But  before  the  War 
of  1812  no  manufacturing  in  Connecticut  had 
achieved  a  notable  success. a  There  was  invention 

documents.  The  British  minister  solemnly  denied  all  know- 
ledge of  them  on  the  part  of  his  government.  The  American 
people  believed  in  their  authenticity,  which  belief  was  con- 
firmed during  the  war  by  the  distinct  favor  shown  for  a  while 
to  Massachusetts,  and  by  the  hope,  openly  entertained  by 
England,  of  separating  New  England  from  New  York  and  the 
southern  states. 

a  Manufactures  in  Connecticut  (abridged  from  the  U.  S.  mar- 
shal's report  in  the  autumn  of  1810,  cited  in  Niles'  Register, 
vi,  323-333)  were  represented  by  14  cotton  mills,  15  woolen 
mills.  (By  1815  New  London  county  alone  had  14  woolen  mills 
and  10  cotton.)  These  had  increased  to  60  cotton  in  1819, 
and  to  36  woolen.  Flax  cloth,  blended  or  unnamed  cloths,  and 
wool  cloth, — all  these  made  in  families, — amounted  to  a  yearly 
valuation  of  $2,151,972;  hempen  cloth,  $12,148;  stockings, 
$111,021 ;  silks  (sewing  and  raw),  $28,503  ;  hats  to  the  value 
of  $522,200 ;  straw  bonnets,  $25,100  ;  shell,  horn,  and  ivory  in 
manufactured  products,  $70,000.  Looms  for  cotton  numbered 
16,132  ;  carding  machines,  184  ;  fulling  mills,  213,  and  there 
were  11,883  spindles. 

In  iron,  wood,  and  steel :  8  furnaces,  with  output  of  $46,180  ; 
48  forges,  $183,910;   2  rolling   and  slitting   mills,  32  trip- 


460    THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF   RELIGIOUS 

and  skill,0  and  often  profit,  in  the  home  market 
for  the  coarser  products,  but  there  was  a  general 
tendency  to  prefer  imported  goods  of  finer  make. 
The  war  cut  off  such  supplies,  and  the  need  cre- 
ated a  paying  demand  and  developed  an  ability 
to  supply  it.  The  political  party  that  conducted 
the  war  to  a  successful  finish  developed  the  policy 
of  protection  of  infant  industries,  and  the  tariff 
of  1816  gave  birth  to  Connecticut  as  a  manu- 
facturing state.  The  repeal  of  the  obnoxious  war 
measures,  the  speedy  reduction  of  the  national 
expenses,  and  the  promise  of  prosperity  smoothed 

hammers,  $91,146 ;  18  naileries,  $27,092 ;  4  brass  foundries, 
1  type  foundry,  brass  jewelry,  and  plaited  ware,  $49,200;  metal 
buttons,  155,000  gross,.or  $102,125  ;  guns,  rifles,  etc.,  $49,050. 

Among  other  manufactories  and  manufactures  there  were 
408  tanneries,  $476,339 ;  shoes,  boots,  etc.,  $231,812 ;  the  tin 
plate  industry,  $139,370 ;  560  distilleries,  $811,144;  18  paper 
mills,  $82,188;  ropewalks,  $243,950;  carriages,  $68,855, 
and  the  beginnings  of  brick-making,  glass-works,  pottery, 
marble  works,  which,  with  the  state's  24  flaxseed  mills  and 
seven  gunpowder  mills,  brought  the  sum  total  to  approximately 
$6,000,000. 

Still  the  great  impetus  to  manufacturing,  which  completely 
revolutionized  the  character  of  the  state,  followed  the  Joint- 
stock  Act  of  1837,  with  its  consequent  investment  of  capital 
and  rush  of  emigration,  resulting  in  later  days  in  a  develop- 
ment of  the  cities  at  the  expense  of  the  rural  districts. 

a  Gilbert  Brewster,  the  Arkwright  of  American  cotton  ma- 
chinery, Eli  Whitney,  with  his  cotton  gin  and  rifle  improve- 
ments, and  John  Fitch,  with  his  experiments  with  steam,  are 
the  most  distinguished  among  a  host  of  men  who  made  Yankee 
ingenuity  and  Yankee  skill  proverbial. 


LIBERTY  IN  CONNECTICUT  461 

out  lingering  resentment.  The  Federal  party  was 
virtually  extinct  outside  of  its  last  strongholds  in 
New  England  and  Delaware.  In  the  Era  of  Good 
Feeling  following  the  war  the  whole  people  com- 
posed one  party,  with  principles  neither  those  of 
the  original  Federal  party  nor  those  of  the  origi- 
nal Republican  party,  but  a  combination  of  both.a 
In  New  England  during  the  War  of  1812,  as 
in  the  Revolution,  the  clergy  had  been  the  nucleus 
of  the  local  dominant  party,  and  with  its  leaders 
had  been  bitter  opponents  of  the  "  unrighteous 
war."  208  Consequently  the  Congregational  clergy 
shared  in  the  popular  disapproval  and  condemna- 
tion that  overtook  the  Federalists.  In  Connecti- 
cut, for  a  time,  the  Standing  Order  by  its  affilia- 
tion with  the  Federal  party  prolonged  its  control 
of  the  state.  But  the  tide  was  turning.  Dr. 
Lyman  Beecher,  Dr.  Dwight's  able  lieutenant, 
made  vigorous  and  laudable  efforts  to  uphold  the 
Dwights,  the  Aaron  and  Moses,  as  it  were,  of  the 

«  "  Era  of  Good  Feeling-,  1817-1829.  The  best  principles  of 
the  Federalists,  the  preservation  and  perpetuity  of  the  Federal 
government,  had  been  quietly  accepted  by  the  Republicans, 
and  the  Republican  principle  of  limiting  the  powers  and  duties 
of  the  Federal  government  had  been  adopted  by  the  Federal- 
ists. The  Republicans  deviated  so  far  from  their  earlier  strict 
construction  views  as  in  1816  to  charter  a  national  bank  for 
twenty  years,  and  to  model  it  upon  Hamilton's  bank  of  1791 
which  they  had  refused  to  re-charter  in  1811."  —  A.  Johnson, 
American  Politics,  pp.  80,  81. 


462    THE   DEVELOPMENT  OF  RELIGIOUS 

waning  political  power.  The  "  Home  Missionary 
Society,"  °  Bible  societies,  the  "  Domestic  Mis- 
sionary Society  for  the  Building  up  of  Waste 
Places,"  and  the  many  branches  of  the  "  Society 
for  the  Suppression  of  Vice  and  Promotion  of 
Good  Morals " b  did  much  good  among  those 
who  welcomed  them.  Where  their  residts  were 
simply  those  of  a  morality  enforced  by  law, 
they  caused  still  greater  dissatisfaction  with 
the  ruling  party.c    The  union  of  the  clergy  and 

a  "  This  was  for  the  support  of  missions  outside  the  state. 
The  Domestic  or  State  Home  Missionary  Society  undertook  the 
buiding  up  of  places  within  the  state  that  were  without  suit- 
able religious  care.  The  former  finally  absorbed  the  latter  when 
its  original  purpose  was  accomplished.  Then,  there  was  the 
Litchfield  County  Foreign  Mission  Society,  founded  in  1812,  the 
first  auxiliary  of  the  American  Board,  which  began  its  career 
in  1810,  and  was  incorporated  the  same  year  that  its  youngest 
branch  was  organized."  —  Lyman  Beecher,  Autobiography,  i, 
275,  287-88  and  291. 

b  Organized  in  New  Haven  in  October,  1812,  with  Dr.  Dwight 
as  chairman.  Members  of  the  committee  upon  organization  in- 
cluded nearly  all  the  prominent  men  of  that  day,  both  of  the 
clergy  and  of  the  bar.  A  list  is  given  in  Lyman  Beecher,  Au- 
tobiography, i,  256. 

c  "  We  really  broke  up  riding  and  working  on  the  Sabbath, 
and  got  the  victory.  The  thing  was  done,  and  had  it  not  been 
for  the  political  revolution  that  followed,  it  would  have  stood 
to  this  day.  .  .  .  The  efforts  we  made  to  execute  the  laws,  and 
secure  a  reformation  of  morals,  reached  the  men  of  piety,  and 
waked  up  the  energies  of  the  whole  state,  so  far  as  the  mem- 
bers of  our  churches,  and  the  intelligent  and  moral  portion  of 
our  congregation  were  concerned.    These,  however,  proved  to 


LIBERTY  IN   CONNECTICUT  463 

lawyers  was  not  as  influential  as  had  been  antici- 
pated in  the  early  days  of  1812.  Soon  after  the 
war  the  clergy  adopted  a  less  vigorous  policy, 
preferring  an  attitude  of  defense  against  cal- 
umny and  a  withdrawal  from  politics." 

The  elections  showed  the  change  in  public 
opinion.  At  the  April  election,  1814,  the  Fed- 
erals reelected  Governor  Smith,  while  the  Re- 
publican candidate,  Mr.  Edward  Boardman, 
received  1629  votes.  The  following  year,  not- 
withstanding Governor  Smith's  reelection,  Mr. 
Boardman  polled  4876  votes,  and  the  Republi- 
cans made  a  gain  of  twenty  in  the  House  of 
Representatives,  while  in  the  fall  nominations  for 
Assistants,  the  highest  Federal  vote  was  9008 
and  that  of  the  Republicans  was  426 8.209 

In  January,  1816,  "  a  meeting  of  citizens  from 
various  parts  of  the  state "  was  held  in  New 
Haven  to  agree  upon  a  nomination  for  governor 

be  a  minority  of  the  suffrage  of  the  state."  —  Lyman  Beecher, 
Autobiography,  i,  268. 

"  In  Pomfret  the  Justice  of  the  Peace  arrested  and  fined 
townspeople  who  persisted  in  working  on  Sunday,  and  held 
travellers  over  until  Monday  morning." — E.  D.  Larned,  History 
of  Windham,  ii,  448. 

a  ' '  The  odium  thrown  upon  the  ministry  was  inconceivable. 
.  .  .  The  Congregational  ministers  agreed  to  hold  back  and 
keep  silent  until  the  storm  blew  over.  Our  duty  as  well  as 
policy  was  explanation  and  self-defence,  expostulation  and  con- 
ciliation." —  Autobiography,  i,  344. 


464    THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  RELIGIOUS 

and  lieutenant-governor,  which  would  bind  to- 
gether the  Republicans  and  such  of  the  Federal- 
ists as  were  opposed  to  the  Standing  Order. 
Oliver  Wolcott  and  Jonathan  Ingersoll  were 
unanimously  agreed  upon.  Oliver  Wolcott  had 
been  living  out  of  the  state  for  fourteen  years, 
and  for  most  of  that  time  had  not  been  in 
politics.  His  Republican  supporters  had  had 
time  to  forget  him  as  a  staunch  Federalist,  and 
remembered  him  only  as  a  man  of  parts  who 
had  held  the  secretaryship  of  the  treasury  under 
Washington  and  Adams,  and  who  had  "  opposed 
the  Hartford  Convention;  like  Washington  was 
a  friend  to  the  Union,  a  foe  to  rebellion ;  with 
mild  means  resisted  bigotry,  with  a  glowing 
heart  favored  toleration."  210  As  he  had  approved 
the  policy  of  the  general  government  since  the 
days  of  Madison,  he  was  pronounced  an  available 
candidate.  A  good  Congregationalist,  he  would 
not  offend  the  Federalists,  would  be  acceptable 
to  the  Republicans,  and  would  stand  to  the  cap- 
italists and  farmers  as  favorable  to  a  protective 
tariff  and  to  more  equitable  taxation  within  the 
state.  The  prestige  given  him  by  the  executive 
abilities  of  his  father  and  grandfather  in  the 
gubernatorial  chair  also  counted  in  his  favor. 
The  candidate  for  lieutenant-governor  was  Jon- 
athan Ingersoll,  a  Federalist,  an  eminent  New 


LIBERTY  IN  CONNECTICUT  465 

Haven  lawyer,  a  prominent  Episcopalian,  senior 
warden  of  Trinity  Church,  and  chairman  of  the 
Bishop's  Fund.  He  had  had  political  training 
in  the  Council,  1792-1798,  and  had  been  judge 
of  the  Superior  Court,  1798-1801,  and  again 
from  1811  to  1816.  His  nomination  was  the 
price  of  the  Episcopal  vote,  for  "  it  was  deemed 
expedient  by  giving  the  Episcopalians  a  fair 
opportunity  to  unite  with  the  Republicans,  to  at- 
tempt to  affect  such  change  in  the  Government 
as  should  afford  some  prospect  of  satisfaction  to 
their  united  demands."  a 

The  "  Connecticut  Herald,"  indignant  at  the 
Assembly's  conduct  in  the  Phoenix  Bank  affair, 
left  the  Federal  party  and  independently  nomi- 
nated Jonathan  Ingersoll  for  lieutenant-governor 
instead  of  the  regular  candidate  of  that  party, 
Chauncey  Goodrich.    The  "  American  Mercury," 

a  "  Aristides,"  March  26,  1826,  and  "  Episcopalian,"  March 
13,  issues  of  the  American  Mercury. 

"  When  the  Episcopal  Church  petitioned  the  legislature  in 
vain,  as  she  did  for  a  series  of  years,  for  a  charter  to  a  college, 
he  (the  Rev.  Philo  Shelton  of  Fairfield)  with  others  of  his 
hre thr en  proposed  a  union  with  the  political  party,  then  in  a  mi- 
nority, to  secure  what  he  regarded  a  just  right.  And  the  first 
fruit  of  the  union  was  the  charter  of  Trinity  (Washington) 
College,  Hartford.  He  was  one  of  a  small  number  of  clergy- 
men who  decided  on  this  measure,  and  were  instrumental  in 
carrying  it  into  effect ;  and  it  resulted  in  a  change  in  the  politics 
of  the  State  which  has  never  yet  been  reversed."  —  Sprague's 
Annals  of  American  Pulpit  (Episcopal),  v,  35. 


466    THE   DEVELOPMENT  OF  RELIGIOUS 

the  organ  of  the  American  Toleration  party,  the 
union  of  Republicans,  dissenters,  and  dissatisfied, 
in  order  "  to  produce  that  concord  and  harmony 
among  parties  which  have  too  long,  and  without 
any  real  diversity  of  interests,  been  disturbed, 
and  which  every  honest  man  must  earnestly  de- 
sire to  see  restored,"  nominated  for  governor, 
Oliver  Wolcott ;  for  lieutenant-governor,  Jona- 
than Ingersoll.  The  Federal  candidate  for  the 
executive  was  Governor  John  Cotton  Smith,  up 
for  reelection.  The  Tolerationists  failed  by  a  few 
hundred  votes  to  seat  their  candidate  for  the  ex- 
ecutive, with  the  result  that  the  election  of  1816 
raised  to  office  Governor  Smith  and  Lieutenant- 
Governor  Ingersoll.  Governor  Smith  received 
11,589  votes,  Mr.  Wolcott  10,170,  while  Lieu- 
tenant-Governor Ingersoll  polled  a  majority  of 
1453  over  his  opponent,  Mr.  Calvin  Goddard. 
It  was  the  first  time  that  a  dissenter  had  held  so 
high  an  office.  The  Federalists  might  have  seized 
the  opportunity  to  renew  their  former  friendship 
with  the  Episcopalians  had  it  not  been  for  their 
stubbornness  and  for  their  old  fear  of  Churchmen 
in  political  office.  At  the  October  town  meetings, 
the  returns  from  ninety-three  towns  gave  a  Fed- 
eral vote  of  7995  and  a  Republican  of  6315  for 

a  Total  vote    for  governor  21,759.    Mr.  Goddard  received 
9421  votes.  —  J.  H.  Trumbull,  Hist.  Notes,  p.  36. 


LIBERTY  IN  CONNECTICUT  467 

representatives,  with  a  Federal  majority  of  about 
thirty  in  the  House.211 

The  Federalists,  realizing  that  the  Episcopal 
vote  was  almost  lost  to  them,  that  their  domestic 
policy  was  in  disfavor,  and  that  their  conduct 
during  the  war  had  damaged  them  and  was  lead- 
ing to  their  downfall  in  Connecticut  even  as  in 
the  nation,  resolved  upon  a  desperate  measure 
to  conciliate  a  larger  number  of  the  dissenters. 
This  was  the  Act  of  October,  1816,  for  the  Support 
of  Literature  and  Religion.  Briefly,  it  divided 
the  balance  of  the  money  which  the  nation  owed 
Connecticut  for  expenses  during  the  war,  namely 
$145,000,  among  the  various  denominations.  To 
the  Congregationalists  it  gave  in  round  num- 
bers, and  including  the  grant  to  Yale,  $ 6 8,0 00  ; 
to  the  Episcopalians,  120,000  ;  to  Methodists, 
112,000  ;  and  to  Baptists,  $18,000  ;  to  Quakers, 
Sandemanians,  etc.,  nothing.®  The  Quakers  were 
assumed  to  be  satisfied  with  their  recent  ex- 
emptions from  military  duty  upon  the  payment 
of  a  small  tax ;  Sandemanians  and  other  insig- 
nificant sects  to  be  conciliated  by  the  act  of  the 

a  The  law  apportioned  one  third  of  the  money  to  the  Con- 
gregationalists ;  one  seventh  to  Yale  ;  one  seventh  to  the  Epis- 
copalians ;  one  eighth  to  the  Baptists ;  one  twelfth  to  the 
Methodists,  and  the  balance  to  the  state  treasury.  —  Cited  in 
Connecticut  Courant,  November  8,  1816.  Acts  and  Laws,  pp. 
279,  280. 


468    THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  RELIGIOUS 

preceding  April,  which  repealed,  after  a  duration 
of  nearly  one  hundred  and  eighty  years,  the  fine  of 
fifty  cents  for  absence  from  church  on  Sunday. 
The  people  were  at  last  free,  not  only  to  wor- 
ship as  they  chose,  but  when  they  chose,  or  to 
omit  worship.  They  had  yet  to  obtain  equal 
privileges  for  all  denominations,  and  exemption 
from  enforced  support  of  religion. 

The  passage  of  the  Act  for  the  Support  of 
Literature  and  Religion  raised,  as  the  Congre- 
gation alists  ought  to  have  known  it  would,  a 
violent  protest  from  every  dissenter  and  from 
every  political  come-outer.  Some  of  the  towns 
in  town-meetings  opposed  the  bill  as  unneces- 
sary for  the  support  of  schools  and  clergy ;  as 
wasteful,  when  it  would  be  wiser  to  create  a 
state  fund;  and  as  unduly  favorable  to  Yale, 
where  the  policy  was  to  create  an  intellectual 
class  and  not  to  advance  learning  and  literature 
among  the  commonalty.  At  Andover,  February 
1, 1817,  Episcopalians,  Baptists,  and  Methodists 
met  together  and  denounced  the  act  because 
they  disapproved  of  the  union  of  Church  and 
State  which  it  encouraged ;  because  of  Yale's 
tendency  to  bias  religion  ;  because  they  all  ap- 
proved of  the  voluntary  support  of  religion  ,•  and 
because  they  all  scorned  such  a  political  trick  as 
the  bill  appeared  to  them,  namely,  an  attempt  to 


LIBERTY  IN  CONNECTICUT  469 

win  by  their  acceptance  of  the  money  their 
apparent  approval  of  the  enforced  support  of  re- 
ligion. The  Baptist  societies  in  different  towns 
met  to  condemn  the  measure  on  the  same  grounds, 
and  on  the  additional  ones  that  it  was  unfair  to 
the  Quakers,  who  had  no  paid  preachers ;  to  the 
Universalists,  because  they  were  numerically  still 
too  small  to  be  of  political  importance ;  and  in- 
deed to  many  men,  since,  as  every  man  had  con- 
tributed to  the  expense  of  the  war,  every  man 
ought  to  be  rewarded  proportionally.  The  Metho- 
dists agreed  in  all  these  criticisms,  and  were  no 
more  backward  in  denouncing  a  measure  which 
forced  on  them  money  they  did  not  seek,  and 
for  a  purpose  of  which  they  disapproved.  The 
Methodist  Society  of  Glastonbury  were  most 
outspoken,  declaring  the  law  — 

incompatible  with  sound  policy  and  inconsistent  with 
any  former  act  of  the  legislature  of  the  state ;  the 
ultimate  consequence  of  which  will  prove  a  lasting 
curse  to  vital  religion,  which  every  candid  and  re- 
flecting mind  may  easily  foresee  ;  and  we  view  it  as 
a  very , bold  and  desperate  effort  to  effectuate  a  union 
between  Church  and  State.  .  .  .  We  are  induced  to 
believe  that  Pilate  and  Herod,  and  the  chief  Priests 
are  still  against  us,  .  .  .  $12,000  to  the  contrary 
notwithstanding.    Resolved  — 

(1)  We   don't   want   such    reparation    for   being 
characterized    as    an    illiterate    set    of    enthusiasts 


470    THE   DEVELOPMENT  OF  RELIGIOUS 

devoid  of  character ;    our  clergy  a  set  of  worthless 
ramblers,  unworthy  the  protection  of  our  civil  laws. 

(2)  Pity  and  contempt  for  the  Legislature  should 
be  expressed  for  bribery. 

(3)  We  believe  the  money,  if  received,  would  be  a 
lasting  curse. 

(4)  The  measure  was  intended  for  politics,  not  re- 
ligion, and  was  a  species  of  Tyranny. 

(5)  We  should  use  our  best  endeavors  to  have  the 
money  used  for  state  expenses. 

(6)  Thanks  should  be  sent  to  the  members  of  the 
Legislature  who  had  opposed  the  measure. 

All  Methodists  were  further  angered  by  the 
affront  put  upon  them  by  the  General  Assembly, 
which,  in  spite  of  their  known  determination 
not  to  receive  the  money,  appointed  Methodist 
trustees,  of  whom  a  majority  were  Federalists, 
to  receive  their  share  of  the  appropriation.  The 
trustees  accepted  the  money,  defending  their 
action  on  the  ground  that  they  believed  that 
their  claim  would  become  void  if  they  did  not 
draw  the  money,  and  it  might  then  be  put  to 
a  worse  use.  But  the  Methodist  societies  did 
not  uphold  the  trustees,  and  "  regretted  the  com- 
mittee imposed  on  us  by  the  Legislature  of 
the  state."  The  chairman  of  the  committee,  the 
Rev.  Augustus  Bolles,  refused  to  serve,  and  the 
societies  rejected  the  money.0 

a  The  first  installment,  $50,000,  was  paid  into  the  Treasury  in 


LIBERTY   IN  CONNECTICUT  471 

As  a  result  of  the  unwelcome  legislation,  the 
Republicans  received  the  whole  vote  of  the  Meth- 
odists for  the  "  Toleration  and  Reform  Ticket  " 
of  1817,  which  repeated  the  nominations  of  the 
preceding  election.  The  Episcopalians  of  course 
favored  the  reelection  of  Lieutenant-Governor 
Ingersoll.  One  small  provocation  by  the  Con- 
gregationalists  of  the  First  Church  of  New 
Haven  —  the  attempt  to  place  the  odium  of 
expulsion  upon  a  member  who  became  an  Episco- 
palian —  did  not  tend  to  allay  feeling.  The  Tol- 
eration party  were  sure  of  the  votes  of  the  more 
feeble  dissenters,  whose  interests  they  promised 
to  regard,  as  well  as  of  those  of  the  Baptists 
and  of  such  Federalists  as  disapproved  of  the 
high-handed  policy  of  the  Standing  Order.  The 
Tolerationists  were  also  counting  upon  a  steady 
increase  of  recruits  from  the  Federal  ranks  as 
soon  as  the  appreciation  of  a  recent  attack  by 

June,  1817.  The  Methodists,  and  later  the  Baptists,  accepted 
their  share,  but  not  until  political  events  had  removed  some  of 
their  objections. 

See  the  Mirror,  February  16,  1818.  It  was  not  until  1820 
that  the  final  acceptance  of  the  money  took  place. 

J.  H.  Trumbull,  Hist.  Notes,  p.  36,  foot-note,  gives  the  fol- 
lowing figures.  By  November,  1817,  $61,500  had  been  received 
and  apportioned:  Congregationalists,  $20,500.00 ;  Trustees  of 
the  Bishop's  Fund,  $8,785.71;  Baptist  Trustees,  $7,687.50; 
Methodist  Trustees,  $5,125.00  ;  Yale  College,  $8,785.71,  and  a 
balance  still  unappropriated  of  $10,616.08. 


472    THE   DEVELOPMENT  OF  RELIGIOUS 

the  legislature  upon  the  judiciary  and  its  danger 
should  become  more  and  more  realized.  Many 
such  recruits,  convinced  of  the  necessity  of  con- 
stitutional reform,  had  gathered  at  the  general 
meeting  of  Republicans  held  in  New  Haven  in 
October,  1816,  to  make  up  the  ticket  for  the 
spring  election  of  1817.  The  campaign  issue 
was  "  whether  freemen  shall  be  tolerated  in  the 
free  exercise  of  their  religious  and  political 
rights."  It  was  met  by  the  election  of  Governor 
Wolcott  with  a  majority  of  600  votes  over  ex- 
Governor  J.  Cotton  Smith,  and  by  no  opposition 
to  the  reelection  of  Lieutenant-Governor  Inger- 
soll.°  At  the  same  election  many  minor  Repub- 
lican officials  were  seated,  and  the  House  went 
Republican  by  an  assured  majority  of  nearly  two 
to  one,  the  Senate  remaining  strongly  Federal. 

Governor  Wolcott's  inaugural  placed  before 
the  Assembly  the  following  subjects  for  consid- 
eration :  (1)  A  new  system  of  taxation ;  for,  as 
the  governor  pointed  out,  the  capitation  tax  was 
equivalent  to  about  one-sixteenth  of  the  laboring 

a  Legal  returns  gave  Wolcott  13,655 

Smith  13,119 

Scattering  202  13,321 

334 
9  The  correction  of  errors  increased  the  majority  to  600,  which 
the  Federalists  conceded.  —  J.  H.  Trumbull,  Hist.  Notes,  p.  38, 
footnote. 


LIBERTY  IN  CONNECTICUT  473 

man's  income.  (2)  Judges  of  the  Superior 
Court  should  hold  their  office  during  good  be- 
havior instead  of  by  annual  appointment  by  the 
legislature.  (3)  There  should  be  a  complete 
separation  of  legislative  and  judicial  powers  of 
government.  (4)  Rights  of  conscience  and  the 
voluntary  support  of  religion,  though  if  neces- 
sary with  "  laws  providing  efficient  remedies  for 
enforcing  the  voluntary  contracts  for  their  [min- 
isters'] support,"  should  be  considered ;  and 
(5)  Freedom  of  suffrage.  In  concluding,  the 
governor  urged  that  "  whenever  the  public  mind 
appears  to  be  considerably  agitated  on  these 
subjects,  prudence  requires  that  the  legislature 
should  revise  its  measures,  and  by  reasonable 
explanation  or  modifications  of  the  law,  restore 
public  confidence  and  tranquillity."  a 

To  consider  briefly  these  various  points  :  Taxes 
upon  mills,  machinery,  and  manufactures  needed 
to  be  light  in  order  to  secure  their  continued  ex- 
istence. The  necessities  of  war-time  had  created 
a  larger  market  for  their  products,  but  one  that 
could  not  be  continued  after  the  close  of  the  war 
allowed  European  products  to  enter  free  of  duty. 
Nor  could  the  factories  exist  if  burdened  with 
heavy  taxes  before  the  new  tariff  measures  of 

a  Governor  Wolcott's  speech,  Connecticut  Courant,  May  20, 
1817 ;  also  Niles'  Register,  xii,  pp.  201-204. 


474    THE   DEVELOPMENT  OF   RELIGIOUS 

1816  had  revived  these  depressed  industries.  In 
agriculture,  taxes  upon  horses,  oxen,  stock,  dairy 
products,  and  increased  areas  of  tillage  handi- 
capped the  farmer.  Again,  the  tax  upon  fire- 
places, rather  than  upon  houses,  weighed  heavily 
upon  the  poor  and  the  moderately  well-to-do, 
who  built  small  and  inexpensive  houses  with  say 
three  fireplaces,  while  the  rich  owners  of  older 
and  more  pretentious  dwellings  were  often  rated 
for  fewer.0  Money  was  scarce,  rich  men  rare. 
So  also  was  great  poverty.  There  was  a  scanty 
living  for  the  majority.  Trades  were  few,  wages 
low.  A  farm-hand  averaged  three  shillings  a 
day,  paid  in  provisions.  Women  of  all  work 
drudged  for  two  shillings  and  sixpence  per  week, 
while  a  farm  overseer  received  a  salary  of  seventy 
dollars  a  year.  The  children  of  people  in  aver- 
age circumstances  walked  barefoot  to  church, 
carrying  their  shoes  and  stockings,  which  they 
put  on  under  the  shelter  of  the  big  tree  nearest 
to  the  meeting-house.  Their  fathers  made  one 
Sunday  suit  last  for  years.  The  wealthy  had 
small  incomes,  though  relatively  great.  It  was 
whispered  that  Pierpont  Edwards,  the  rich  and 
prosperous  New  Haven  lawyer,  had  an  income 

a  "  In  our  climate,  three  fireplaces  are  occasionally  neces- 
sary to  the  comfortable  accommodation  of  every  family." 
—  Governor's  speech. 


LIBERTY  IN  CONNECTICUT  475 

from   his   law  practice  of  two  thousand  dollars 
per  year. 

Points  (2)  and  (3)  in  the  governor's  address 
were  prompted  by  the  widespread  interest  cre- 
ated by  the  action  of  the  legislature  in  October, 
1815,  when  it  had  set  aside  the  conviction,  by  a 
special  Superior  Court  at  Middletown,  of  Peter 
Lung  for  murder,  on  the  ground  that  the  court 
was  irregularly  and  illegally  convened.  The 
chief  judge  was  Zephaniah  Swift  of  Windham, 
author  of  the  "  System  of  Connecticut  Laws."  a 
Judge  Swift  appealed  to  the  public  b  to  vindicate 
his  judicial  character  from  the  censure  implied 
by  the  Assembly's  action.  An  ardent  Federalist, 
who  in  the  early  days  of  statehood  could  see  no 
need  of  a  better  constitution  than  he  then  insisted 
Connecticut  possessed  through  the  adoption  of 
her  ancient  charter,  he  had  long  opposed  the 
ecclesiastical  establishment  which  that  charter 
upheld.  In  his  defense  of  the  constitution  he 
had  maintained  that  "it  ought  to  be  deemed 
an  inviolable  maxim  that  when  proper  courts  of 
law  are  constituted,  the  legislature  are  divested 
of  all  judicial  authority.''''212  But  when  the  leg- 
islature claimed  as  constitutional  the  right  to  call 

«  Published  1795. 

b  A  vindication  of  the  calling  of  the  Special  Superior  Court 
at  Middletown  .  .  .  for  the  trial  of  Peter  Lung  .  .  .  with  obser- 
vations, &c     Windham,  1816. 


476    THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  RELIGIOUS 

to  account  any  court,  magistrate,  or  other  officer 
for  misdemeanor  or  mal-administration,°  Judge 
Swift  admitted  the  lack  of  "  a  written  constitu- 
tion." He  further  argued  that  the  one  "  made  up 
of  usages  and  customs,  had  always  been  under- 
stood to  contain  certain  fundamental  axioms 
which  were  held  sacred  and  inviolable,  and  which 
were  the  basis  on  which  rested  the  rights  of  the 
people."  Of  these  self-evident  principles  one  was 
that  the  three  branches  of  government  —  the  ex- 
ecutive, legislative,  and  judicial  —  were  coordi- 
nate and  independent,  and  that  the  powers  of  one 
should  never  be  exercised  by  the  other.  "  It  ought 
to  be  held  as  a  fundamental  axiom,"  the  judge 
declared,  "  that  the  Legislature  should  never  en- 
croach on  the  jurisdiction  of  the  Judiciary,  nor 
assume  the  province  of  interfering  in  private 
rights,  nor  of  overhauling  the  decisions  of  the 
courts  of  law."  Otherwise,  "  the  legislature  would 
become  one  great  arbitration  that  would  engulf 
all  the  courts  of  law,6  and  sovereign  discretion 

a  The  legislature  had  also  interfered  with  decisions  regard- 
ing the  Syrasbury  patent.   See  E.  Kirby,  Law  Reports,  p.  44(3. 

b  A  summary  of  the  Connecticut  constitution,  taken  from 
Niles's  Register,  asserts  that  the  General  Court  has  sole  power 
to  make  and  repeal  laws,  grant  levies,  dispose  of  lands  belong- 
ing to  the  state  to  particular  towns  and  persons,  to  erect  and 
style  judicatories  and  officers  as  they  shall  see  necessary  for 
the  good  government  of  the  people  ;  also  to  call  to  account  any 
court,  magistrate,  or  other  officer  for  misdemeanor  andmalad- 


LIBERTY  IN  CONNECTICUT  477 

would  be  the  only  rule  of  decision,  —  a  state  of 
things  equally  favorable  to  lawyers  and  crimi- 
nals."™ 

ministration,  or  for  just  cause  may  fine,  displace,  or  remove 
them,  or  deal  otherwise  as  the  nature  of  the  case  shall  require ; 
and  may  deal  or  act  in  any  other  matter  that  concerns  the  good 
of  the  state  except  the  election  of  governor,  deputy-governor, 
assistants,  treasurer  and  secretary,  which  shall  be  done  by  the 
freemen  at  the  yearly  court  of  election,  unless  there  be  any 
vacancy  by  reason  of  death  or  otherwise,  after  an  election, 
when  it  may  be  filled  by  the  General  Court.  This  court  has 
power  also,  for  reasons  satisfactory  to  them,  to  grant  suspen- 
sion, release,  and  jail  delivery  upon  reprieves  in  capital  and 
criminal  cases. 

The  elections  for  the  assistants  and  superior  officers  are 
annual ;  for  the  representatives,  semi-annual.  The  sessions  of 
the  General  Court  are  semi-annual.  The  Governor  and  the 
speaker  have  the  casting  vote  in  the  Upper  and  Lower  House, 
respectively. 

The  Superior  Court  consists  of  one  chief  judge  and  four 
others,  and  holds  two  sessions  in  each  county  each  year.  Its 
jurisdiction  holds  over  all  criminal  cases  extending  to  life, 
limb,  or  banishment ;  all  criminal  cases  brought  from  county 
courts  by  appeal  or  writ  of  error,  and  in  some  matters  of 
divorce. 

The  county  court  consists  of  one  judge  and  four  justices  of 
the  quorum,  with  jurisdiction  over  all  criminal  cases  not  extend- 
ing to  life,  limb,  or  banishment,  and  with  original  jurisdiction 
in  all  civil  actions  where  the  demand  exceeds  forty  shillings. 

Justices  of  the  Peace,  in  the  various  towns,  have  charge  of 
civil  actions  involving  less  than  forty  shillings,  and  crimi- 
nal jurisdiction  in  some  cases,  where  the  fine  does  not  exceed 
forty  shillings,  or  the  punishment  exceed  ten  stripes  or  sitting 
in  the  stocks.  Judges  and  Justices  are  annually  appointed  by 
the  General  Court,  and  commonly  reappointed  during  good 


478      THE   DEVELOPMENT  OF  RELIGIOUS 

With  respect  to  the  fifth  point  in  the  gov- 
ernor's address,  the  right  of  suffrage,  the  Repub- 
licans and  their  allies  demanded  its  extension 
from  householders  having  real  estate  rated  at 
$7  (40s.),  or  personal  estate  of  $134  (£40), 
to  "  men  who  pay  small  taxes,  work  on  highways, 
or  do  service  in  the  militia." 

In  the  fall  of  1817,  the  reform  party  had 
forced  the  repeal  of  the  obnoxious  Stand-Up 
Law,  and  it  demanded  that  other  restrictive 
measures  should  be  annulled.  So  bitter  was  the 
Federal  antagonism  in  the  Council  that  during 

behavior,  while  sheriffs  are  appointed  by  the  governor  and 
council  without  time-limit  and  are  subject  to  removal. 

Recently  county  courts  determined  matters  of  equity  invol- 
ving- from  five  pounds  to  two  hundred  pounds,  the  Superior 
Court  two  hundred  pounds  to  sixteen  hundred,  and  the  Gen- 
eral Assembly  all  others. 

Probate  districts,  not  coextensive  with  the  counties,  exist, 
with  appeal  to  the  Superior  Court. 

In  military  matters,  the  governor  is  the  captain-general  of 
the  militia,  and  the  General  Court  appoints  the  general  officers 
and  field  officers,  and  they  are  commissioned  by  the  governor. 
Captains  and  subalterns  are  chosen  by  the  vote  of  the  com- 
pany and  of  the  householders  living  within  the  limits  of  the 
company,  but  must  be  approved  by  the  General  Court  and 
commissioned  by  the  governor  before  they  can  serve.  All  mili- 
tary officers  hold  their  commissions  during  the  pleasure  of 
the  General  Assembly  and  may  not  resign  them  without  per- 
mission, except  under  penalty  of  being  reduced  to  the  ranks.  — 
Niks'  Register,  1813,  vol.  iii,  p.  443,  etc.  Corrected  slightly 
by  reference  to  Swift's  System  of  Laws. 


LIBERTY  IN  CONNECTICUT  479 

all  the  spring  session  of  1817,  the  Tolerationists 
loudly  complained  that  every  reform  measure 
proposed  in  the  House  was  lost  in  the  Federal 
Senate.  The  committees  to  which  parts  of  the 
governor's  speech  had  been  referred  for  consid- 
eration did  little.  That  on  taxation  made  a  re- 
port in  the  fall  recommending  that  a  careful 
investigation  of  conditions  and  resources  should 
be  made,  because,  as  capital  sought  investment 
in  banks,  manufacturing,  and  various  commercial 
enterprises  unknown  to  the  earlier  generations,0 
the  fairness  of  the  old  system  of  taxation  was 
lapsing.  The  mixed  committee,  including  several 
Tolerationists  and  having  an  Episcopal  chairman, 
that  was  to  report  upon  the  religious  situation, 
gave  no  encouragement  to  dissenters.  The  spring 
session  allowed  one  barren  act  to  pass,  the  "  Act 
to  secure  equal  rights,  powers,  and  privileges  to 
Christians  of  all  denominations  in  this  state." 
It  enacted  that  henceforth  certificates  should  be 
lodged  with  the  town  clerk,  and  permitted  a 
come-outer  to  return  to  the  society  from  which 
he  had  separated.  In  the  following  spring,  when 
an  attempt  was  made  to  pass  a  bill  to  supersede 
this  act,  it  was  maintained  that  the  law  of  1817 
"  did  not  effect  the  object  or  answer  the  desire 

a  Banks  and  insurance  companies  began  to  organize  about 
1790  to  1810. 


480    THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  RELIGIOUS 

of  the  aggrieved  party,"  for  it  retained  the  certifi- 
cate clause  and  continued  to  deny  to  dissenters 
the  measure  of  religious  liberty  freely  accorded 
to  the  Established  churches. 

The  Tolerationists  were  determined  to  carry 
the  elections  of  1818.  In  the  fall  elections  of 
1817,  they  again  had  a  majority  of  nearly  two  to 
one  in  the  House,  and  consequently  the  struggle 
was  for  the  control  of  the  Senate.  At  the  fall 
meetings,  they  placed  in  nomination  their  candi- 
dates for  senators,  and  all  through  the  winter  they 
agitated  in  town  meetings  and  in  every  other 
way  the  discussion  of  their  "  Constitution  and 
Reform  Ticket."  Party  pamphlets  were  scattered 
throughout  the  state.  One  of  these,  the  most  in 
favor,  was  "  The  Politics  of  Connecticut :  by  a 
Federal  Republican"  (George  H.  Richards  of 
New  London).  At  the  spring  elections  of  1818, 
the  Constitution  and  Reform  Ticket  carried  the 
day,  seating  the  reelected  governor  and  lieuten- 
ant-governor, eight  anti-Federal  senators,  and 
preserving  the  anti-Federal  majority  in  the 
House.  The  political  revolution  was  complete, 
and  the  preliminary  steps  towards  the  construc- 
tion of  a  new  constitution  were  at  once  begun.a 

The    governor's    inaugural   address    specified 

a  In  1818,  for  the  first  time,  a  dissenter,  Mr.  Croswell,  rector 
of  Trinity  Church,  New  Haven,  preached  the  Election  Sermon. 


LIBERTY  IN  CONNECTICUT  481 

the  main  task  before  the  Assembly  in  the  fol- 
lowing words  :  — 

As  a  portion  of  the  people  have  expressed  a  de- 
sire that  the  form  of  civil  government  in  this  State 
should  he  revised,  this  highly  interesting  subject  will 
probably  engage  your  [the  Assembly's]  deliberations. 
.  .  .  Considered  merely  as  an  instrument  defining 
the  powers  and  duties  of  magistrates  and  rulers,  the 
Charter  may  justly  be  considered  as  unpro visional  and 
imperfect.  Yet  it  ought  to  be  recollected  that  what 
is  now  its  greatest  defect  was  formerly  a  pre-eminent 
advantage,  it  being  then  highly  important  to  the 
people  to  acquire  the  greatest  latitude  of  authority 
with  an  exemption  from  British  influence  and  control. 

If  I  correctly  comprehend  the  wishes  which  have 
been  expressed  by  a  portion  of  our  fellow  citizens, 
they  are  now  desirous,  as  the  sources  of  apprehension 
from  external  causes  are  at  present  happily  closed, 
that  the  Legislative,  Executive  and  Judicial  authori- 
ties of  their  own  government  may  be  more  precisely 
defined  and  limited,  and  the  rights  of  the  people  de- 
clared and  acknowledged.  It  is  your  province  to 
dispose  of  this  important  subject  in  such  manner  as 
will  best  promote  general  satisfaction  and  tranquillity. 

The  House  appointed  a  select  committee  of  five 
to  report  upon  the  revision  of  the  form  of  civil 
government.  The  Council  appointed  Hon.  Elijah 
Boardman  (Federalist)  and  Hon.  William  Bris- 
tol (Tolerationist)  to  act  as  joint  committee  with 


482    THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  RELIGIOUS 

several  gentlemen  selected  by  the  House.  The 
joint  committee  reported  that  "  the  present  was 
a  period  peculiarly  auspicious  for  carrying  into 
effect  the  wishes  of  our  fellow-citizens,  —  the  gen- 
eral desire  for  a  revision  and  reformation  of  the 
structure  of  our  civil  government  and  the  estab- 
lishment of  a  Constitutional  Compact  "  and  "  that 
the  organization  of  the  different  branches  of  gov- 
ernment, the  separation  of  their  powers,  the  tenure 
of  office,  the  elective  franchise,  liberty  of  speech 
and  of  the  press,  freedom  of  conscience,  trial  by 
jury,  rights  which  relate  to  these  deeply  interesting 
subjects,  ought  not  to  be  suffered  to  rest  on  the  frail 
foundation  of  legislative  will."  2M  Immediately, 
the  House  passed  a  bill  requiring  the  freemen  of 
the  towns  to  assemble  in  town  meeting  on  the  fol- 
lowing Fourth  of  July  "  to  elect  by  ballot  as  many 
delegates  as  said  towns  now  choose  representatives 
to  the  General  Assembly,"  said  delegates  to  meet 
in  constitutional  convention  at  Hartford  on  the 
fourth  Wednesday  of  the  following  August  (Aug. 
26)  for  "  the  formation  of  a  Constitution  of 
Civil  Government  for  the  people  of  this  state." 
The  bill  further  declared  that  the  constitution 
when  "  ratified  by  such  majority  of  the  said 
qualified  voters,  convened  as  aforesaid,  as  shall  be 
directed  by  said  convention,  shall  be  and  remain 
tin    Supreme  Law  of  this  State."   An  attempt 


LIBERTY  IN  CONNECTICUT  483 

was  made  to  substitute  "  one  delegate "  for 
"  as  many  delegates  "  as  the  towns  sent.  Upon 
the  question  in  the  convention,  as  to  what  ma- 
jority should  be  required  for  ratification,  there 
was  considerable  diversity  of  opinion.  "  Two- 
thirds  of  the  whole  number  of  towns  "  was  sug- 
gested, but  was  opposed  on  the  ground  that  "  two- 
thirds  of  the  whole  number  of  the  towns  might 
not  contain  one-fourth  of  the  people."  "  TJiree- 
fifths  of  the  legal  voters  of  the  state  "  was  also 
suggested.  In  the  final  decision,  the  simple  "  ma- 
jority of  the  freemen  "  was  accepted.  Had  this 
not  been  the  case,  the  constitution  would  have 
failed  of  ratification,  for,  as  Burlington  made  no 
returns,  the  vote  stood  59  out  of  120  towns  for 
ratification,  with  13,918  yeas  to  12,364  nays, 
giving  a  majority  of  but  1554. 

Several  causes  tended  to  bring  about  an  eager, 
an  amiable,  or  tolerant  support  of  the  work  of 
the  convention.  Republicans  and  Tolerationists 
hoped  for  sweeping  reforms.  The  Federalists 
were  divided.  Many  there  were  who  believed  it 
dangerous  for  the  state  to  continue  destitute  of 
fundamental  laws  defining  and  limiting  the 
powers  of  the  legislature,  and  to  such  as  these 
the  need  of  a  bill  of  rights,  and  of  the  separation 
of  the  powers  of  the  government,  was  immediate 
and  imperative.    The  influential  faction  of  the 


484    THE   DEVELOPMENT  OF  RELIGIOUS 

New  Haven  Federalists  were  moved  to  modify 
any  opposition  existing  among  them  by  the  pro- 
posed change  to  annual  sessions  of  the  legisla- 
ture with  alternate  sittings  in  the  two  capitals. 
There  were  still  other  Federalists  who  accepted 
the  proposed  change  in  government  as  inevita- 
ble, and  who  wisely  forebore  to  block  it,  prefer- 
ring to  use  all  their  influence  toward  saving  as 
much  as  possible  of  the  old  institutions  under 
new  forms.  And  in  this  resolve  they  were  en- 
couraged by  the  high  character  of  the  men  that 
all  parties  chose  as  delegates  to  the  constitutional 
convention. 

The  convention  met  August  26, 1818,  at  Hart- 
ford. Governor  Wolcott,  one  of  the  delegates 
from  Litchfield,  was  elected  president,  and  Mr. 
James  Lanman,  secretary.  Mr.  Pierpont  Edwards 
was  chosen  chairman  of  a  committee  of  three 
from  each  county  to  draft  a  constitution.  The 
estimated  strength  of  the  parties  was  one  hun- 
dred and  five  Republicans  to  ninety-five  Federal- 
ists, and,  of  the  drafting  committee,  five  mem- 
bers belonged  to  the  political  minority.0  An 
idea  of  the  character  of  the  men  chosen  for  this 


a  Messrs.  Pitkin,  Todd,  G.  Lamed,  Pettibone,  and  Wiley.  Of 
these,  the  first  had  been  twenty  times  state  representative,  five 
times  speaker  of  the  House,  and  for  thirteen  years  had  been 
representative  in  Congress 


LIBERTY   IN   CONNECTICUT  485 

important  task  of  framing  a  new  constitution  is 
gained  from  a  glance  at  some  of  the  names.  To 
begin  with,  over  thirty-nine  of  the  delegates  to 
the  convention  either  were  Yale  alumni  or  held 
its  honorary  degrees,  and  half  of  the  drafting 
committee  were  her  graduates.  Ex-Governor 
Treadwell  and  Alexander  Wolcott  led  the  op- 
posing parties,  while  their  able  seconds  in  com- 
mand were  General  Nathaniel  Terry  of  Hartford 
and  Pierpont  Edwards  of  New  Haven.  The  latter 
still  held  the  office  of  judge  of  the  United  States 
District  Court,  to  which  Jefferson  had  appointed 
him.  Among  the  delegates,  there  were  Mr.  Amasa 
Learned,  formerly  representative  in  Congress, 
the  ex-chief-judges  Jesse  Eoot  and  Stephen  Mix 
Mitchell,  Aaron  Austin,  a  member  of  the  Coun- 
cil for  over  twenty  years  until  the  party  elec- 
tions of  1818  unseated  him,  ex-Governor  John 
Treadwell,  and  Lemuel  Sanford,  —  all  of  whom 
had  been  delegates  to  the  convention  of  1788, 
called  to  ratify  the  constitution  of  the  United 
States.  Five  members  of  the  drafting  committee 
were  state  senators,  namely :  Messrs.  William 
Bristol,  Sylvester  Wells,  James  Lanman,  Dr.  John 
S.  Peters  of  Hebron,  and  Peter  Webb  of  Wind- 
ham. Five  others,  Messrs.  Elisha  Phelps,  Gideon 
Tomlinson,  James  Stevens,  Orange  Merwin,  and 
Daniel  Burrows  were  afterwards  elected  to  that 


486    THE   DEVELOPMENT   OF  RELIGIOUS 

office,  while  Gideon  Tomlinson  and  John  S. 
Peters  became  in  turn  governors  of  the  state. 
James  Lanman,  Nathan  Smith  (a  member  also 
of  the  committee),  and  Tomlinson  entered  the 
national  Senate.  Among  the  delegates,  there 
were  nearly  a  dozen  well-known  physicians,  most 
of  them  to  be  found  among  the  Tolerationists. 
Messrs.  Webb,  Christopher  Manwaring  of  New 
London,  Gideon  Tomlinson  of  Fairfield,  and 
General  Joshua  King  of  Eidgefield,  together 
with  Joshua  Stow  of  Middletown  (also  on  the 
drafting  committee),  had  been  for  years  the  war- 
horses  of  the  democracy,  loyal  followers  of  their 
leader  Alexander  Wolcott,  who  had  been  the  Re- 
publican state  manager  from  1800  to  1817. 

The  method  of  procedure  in  the  convention 
was  to  report  from  time  to  time  a  portion  of  the 
draft  of  the  constitution,  of  which  each  article 
was  considered  section  by  section,  discussed,  and 
amended.  After  each  of  the  several  sections  had 
been  so  considered,  the  whole  article  was  opened 
to  amendment  before  the  vote  upon  its  acceptance 
was  taken.  When  all  articles  had  been  approved, 
the  constitution  was  printed  as  so  far  accepted, 
and  was  again  submitted  to  revision  and  amend- 
ment before  receiving  the  final  approval  of  the 
convention. 

While   the  constitutional   convention  was  in 


LIBERTY  IN  CONNECTICUT  487 

session,  the  Baptists  and  Methodists  resolved  that 
no  constitution  of  civil  government  should  receive 
their  approbation  and  support  unless  it  contained 
a  provision  that  should  secure  the  full  and  com- 
plete enjoyment  of  religious  liberty.215  And  it  was 
known  that  the  Episcopalians  were  ready  to  sec- 
ond such  resolutions.  These  expressions  of  opinion 
were  of  weight  as  foreshadowing  the  kind  of  re- 
ception that  many  of  the  towns  where  the  dis- 
senters were  in  the  ascendant  would  accord  any 
constitution  sent  to  them  for  ratification. 

In  the  convention  both  the  old  Federal  leader 
and  the  old  Democratic  chief  objected  to  the  in- 
corporation in  the  constitution  of  a  bill  of  rights. 
Governor  Treadwell  opposed  it  on  the  ground 
that  such  "  unalterable "  regulations  were  un- 
necessary where,  as  in  a  republic,  all  power  was 
vested  in  the  people.  Alexander  Wolcott  objected 
that  such  a  "  bill  would  circumscribe  the  powers 
of  the  General  Assembly"  and  also  because  of 
his  disapproval  of  some  of  its  clauses.216  When 
the  draft  of  fourth  section  was  under  discussion, 
namely  that  "  No  preference  shall  be  given  by 
law  to  any  religious  sect  or  mode  of  worship," 
the  Rev.  Asahel  Morse,  a  Baptist  minister,  offered 
the  substitute,  — 

That  rights  of  conscience  are  inalienable,  that  all 
persons  have  a  natural  right  to  worship  Almighty  God 


488    THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  KELIGIOUS 

according  to  their  own  consciences ;  and  no  person 
shall  he  compelled  to  attend  any  place  of  worship,  or 
contribute  to  the  support  of  any  minister,  contrary  to 
his  own  choice. 

The  substitute  was  rejected,  and  after  some  dis- 
cussion, the  wording  of  the  section  was  changed 
by  substituting  "  Christian  "  in  place  of  "  reli- 
gious"  and  this   change  retained   in   the   final 


a  The  first  seven  sections  of  the  Bill  of  Rights  according  to 
the  final  revision  are  :  — 

Sec.  1.  That  all  men  when  they  form  a  social  compact,  are 
equal  in  rights ;  and  that  no  man,  or  set  of  men  are  entitled  to 
exclusive  public  emoluments  or  privileges  from  the  community. 

Sec.  2.  That  all  political  power  is  inherent  in  the  people,  and 
all  free  governments  are  founded  on  their  authority,  and  in- 
stituted for  their  benefit ;  and  that  they  have,  at  all  times,  an 
undeniable  and  indefeasible  right  to  alter  their  form  of  gov- 
ernment, in  such  a  manner  as  they  may  think  expedient. 

Sec.  3.  The  exercise  and  enjoyment  of  religious  profession 
and  worship,  without  discrimination,  shall  forever  be  free  to  all 
persons  in  this  state  ;  provided,  that  the  right,  hereby  declared 
and  established,  shall  not  be  so  construed  as  to  excuse  acts  of 
licentiousness,  or  to  justify  practices  inconsistent  with  the  peace 
and  safety  of  the  state. 

Sec.  4.  No  preference  shall  be  given  by  law  to  any  Christian 
sect  or  mode  of  worship. 

Sec.  5.  Every  citizen  may  freely  speak,  write,  and  publish 
his  sentiments  on  all  subjects,  being  responsible  for  the  abuse 
of  that  liberty. 

Sec.  6.  No  law  shall  ever  be  passed  to  curtail  or  restrain  the 
liberty  of  speech  or  of  the  press. 

Sec.  7.  In  all  prosecutions  or  indictments  for  libels,  the  truth 
may  be  given  in  evidence ;  and  the  jury  shall  have  the  right 


LIBERTY  IN   CONNECTICUT  489 

The  seventh  article,  "  Of  Religion,"  was  the 
subject  of  a  long  and  earnest  debate. 

Sec.  1.  It  being  the  right  and  duty  of  all  men  to 
worship  the  Supreme  Being,  the  great  Creator  and 
Preserver  of  the  universe,  in  the  mode  most  consistent 
with  the  dictates  of  their  own  consciences  ;  no  person 
shall  be  compelled  to  join  or  support,  nor  by  law  be 
classed  with  or  associated  to  any  congregation,  church 
or  religious  association.  And  each  and  every  society 
or  denomination  of  Christians  in  this  State,  shall  have 
and  enjoy  the  same  and  equal  powers,  rights  and  priv- 
ileges ;  and  shall  have  power  and  authority  to  sup- 
port and  maintain  the  Ministers  or  Teachers  of  their 
respective  denominations,  and  to  build  and  repair 
houses  for  public  worship,  by  a  tax  on  the  members  of 
the  respective  societies  only,  or  in  any  other  manner. 

Sec.  2.  If  any  person  shall  choose  to  separate  him- 
self from  the  society  or  denomination  of  Christians 
to  which  he  may  belong,  and  shall  leave  written  notice 
thereof  with  the  Clerk  of  such  society  he  shall  there- 
upon be  no  longer  liable  for  any  future  expenses, 
which  may  be  incurred  by  said  society. 

The  Federalists  contested  its  passage  at  every 
point,  and  succeeded  in  modifying  the  first  draft 
in  important  particulars,  but  could  not  prevent 
complete  severance  of  Church  and  State,  nor  the 
constitutional  guarantee  to  all  denominations  of 

to  determine  the  law  and  the  facts,  under  the  direction  of  the 
court. 


490    THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  RELIGIOUS 

religious  liberty  and  perfect  equality  before  the 
law.  To  the  first  clause  as  reported  —  "  It  being 
the  right  and  duty  of  all  men  to  worship  the 
Supreme  Being,  the  Great  Creator  and  Preserver 
of  the  Universe,  in  the  mode  most  consistent  with 
the  dictates  of  their  consciences"  —  Governor 
Treadwell  objected  that  "  Conscience  may  be  per- 
verted, and  man  may  think  it  his  duty  to  worship 
his  Creator  by  image,  or  as  the  Greeks  and  Ro- 
mans did ;  and  though  he  would  tolerate  all 
modes  of  worship,  he  would  not  recognize  it  in 
the  Constitution,  as  the  duty  of  a  person  to  wor- 
ship as  the  heathen  do."  Mr.Tomlinson  afterwards 
moved  to  amend  the  clause  to  its  present  shape, 
"  The  duty  of  all  men  to  worship  .  .  .  and  their 
right  to  render  that  worship."  Governor  Tread- 
well  objected  that  the  same  clause  went  "  to  dis- 
solve all  ecclesiastical  societies  in  this  State." 
That  was  probably  its  intent  as  Messrs.  Joshua 
Stow  and  Gideon  Tomlinson  had  drafted  it.  The 
former  answered  all  objections  by  asserting  that 
"  if  this  section  is  altered  in  any  way,  it  will  cur- 
tail the  great  principles  for  which  we  contend."  ° 

°  Mr.  Trumbull  asserts  that  "  writers  and  historians  are  in 
error  when  attributing-  to  Mr.  Morse  of  Suffield  (the  Baptist 
minister  aforementioned)  the  drafting-  of  the  Article  on  Reli- 
gious Liberty.  The  drafting  committee  were  Messrs.  Tomlinson 
and  Stow,  and  the  first  clause,  as  reported,  seems  to  have  been 
taken  with  slight  alteration  from  Governor  Wolcott's  speech 


LIBERTY   IN   CONNECTICUT  491 

The  first  section  was  finally  adopted  by  a  vote 
of  103  to  86,  while  a  motion  to  strike  out  the 
second  section  was  rejected  by  105  to  84.  On  its 
final  revision  it  read  :  — 

Sec.  1.  It  being  the  duty  of  all  men  to  worship 
the  Supreme  Being,  the  Great  Creator  and  Preserver 
of  the  Universe,  and  their  right  to  render  that  wor- 
ship in  the  mode  most  consistent  with  the  dictates  of 
their  consciences  ;  no  person  shall,  by  law,  be  compelled 
to  join  or  support,  nor  be  classed  with,  or  associated 
to,  any  congregation,  church,  or  religious  association. 
But  every  person  now  belonging  to  such  congregation, 
church,  or  religious  association,  shall  remain  a  member 
thereof,  until  he  shall  have  separated  himself  there- 
from, in  the  manner  hereinafter  provided.  And  each 
and  every  society  or  denomination  of  Christians,  in 
this  state,  shall  have  and  enjoy  the  same  and  equal 
powers,  rights  and  privileges ;  and  shall  have  power 
and  authority  to  support  and  maintain  the  ministers 
or  teachers  of  their  respective  denominations,  and  to 
build  and  repair  houses  for  public  worship,  by  a  tax 
on  the  members  of  any  such  society  only,  to  be  laid 
by  a  major  vote  of  the  legal  voters  assembled  at  any 
such  society  meeting,  warned  and  held  according  to 
law,  or  in  any  other  manner." 

to  the  General  Assembly,  May,  1817,  namely,  '  It  is  the  right 
and  duty  of  every  man  publicly  and  privately  to  worship  and 
adore  the  Supreme  Creator  and  Preserver  of  the  Universe  in  the 
manner  most  agreeable  to  the  dictates  of  his  own  conscience.' " 
—  J.  H.  Trumbull,  Notes  on  the  Constitution,  pp.  5G,  57. 
a  The  second  section  remained  unchanged. 


492      THE   DEVELOPMENT  OF  RELIGIOUS 

During:  the  last  revision  of  the  constitution 
Mr.  Terry  had  offered  the  two  amendments  that 
continue  the  old  ecclesiastical  societies  as  cor- 
porate bodies.217 

The  draft  of  the  whole  constitution  was  read 
through  for  the  last  time  as  amended  and  ready 
for  acceptance  or  rejection,  and  put  to  vote  on 
September  15,  1818.  It  was  passed  by  134  yeas 
to  61  nays.  The  constitution  then  wrent  before 
the  people  for  their  consideration0  and  ratifica- 
tion. For  a  while  its  fate  seemed  doubtful ; 
but  by  the  loyalty  of  the  Federal  members  of 
the  convention  and  their  efforts  in  their  own 
districts  the  whole  state  gave  a  majority  for  rat- 
ification. The  southern  counties,  with  a  vote  of 
11,181,  gave  a  majority  for  ratification  of  2843  ; 
the  northern  counties,  with  a  vote  of  15,101, 
gave  a  majority  against  ratification  of  1189.218 

The  Toleration  party  as  such  had  triumphed, 
and  they  felt  that  they  had  won  all  they  had 
promised  the  people,  for  they  had  secured  "  the 
same  and  equal  powers,  rights  and  privileges  to 
all  denominations  of  Christians."  They  had  also 
cleared  the  way  for  a  broader  suffrage  and  for 
the  proper  election  laws  to  guarantee  it.  At  the 
last  two  elections  the  Republicans  in  the  Tol- 
eration party  had  carefully  separated  state  and 

a  Seven  hundred  copies  were  distributed  among  the  towns. 


LIBERTY  IN   CONNECTICUT  493 

national  issues,  and  had  in  large  measure  forborne 
from  criticism  of  the  partisan  government,  in- 
sisting that  the  people's  decision  at  the  polls 
would  give  them  —  the  people  —  rather  than  any 
political  party,  the  power  to  correct  existing 
abuses.  The  Republicans  also  insisted  that  the 
Tolerationists,  no  matter  what  their  previous 
party  affiliation,  would  with  one  accord  obey  the 
behests  of  the  sovereign  people.  But  when  the 
constitution  was  an  assured  fact  the  Republicans 
felt  that  the  Federalist  influence  had  dominated 
the  convention,  and  the  Federalists  that  alto- 
gether too  much  had  been  accorded  to  the  radical 
party.  Nevertheless  it  was  the  loyalty  of  the 
Federal  members  of  the  convention  that  won 
the  small  majority  for  the  Tolerationists  and 
for  the  new  constitution,  even  if  that  loyalty  was 
founded  upon  the  belief,  held  by  many,  that  the 
choice  of  evils  lay  in  voting  for  the  new  regime. 

The  constitution  of  1818  was  modeled  on  the 
old  charter,  and  retained  much  that  was  useful 
in  the  earlier  instrument.  The  more  important 
changes  were:  (1)  The  clearer  definition  and 
better  distribution  of  the  powers  of  government. 
(2)  Rights  of  suffrage  were  established  upon 
personal  qualifications,  and  election  laws  were 
guaranteed  to  be  so  modified  that  voting  should 
be  convenient  and  expeditious,  and  its  returns 


494    THE   DEVELOPMENT  OF  RELIGIOUS 

correct.  (3)  The  courts  were  reorganized,  and 
the  number  of  judges  was  reduced  nearly  one 
half,  while  the  terms  of  those  in  higher  courts 
were  made  to  depend  upon  an  age  limit  (that  oi 
seventy  years),  efficiency,  and  good  behavior. 
Their  removal  could  be  only  upon  impeachment 
or  upon  the  request  of  at  least  two  thirds  of  the 
members  of  each  house.  Judges  of  the  lower 
courts,  justices  of  the  peace,  were  still  to  be  ap- 
pointed annually  by  the  legislature,  and  to  it  the 
appointment  of  the  sheriffs  was  transferred.0  (4) 
Amendments  to  the  constitution  were  provided 
for.  (5)  Annual  elections  and  annual  sessions  of 
the  legislature,  alternating  between  Hartford  and 
New  Haven,  were  arranged  for,  and  by  this  one 
change  alone  the  state  was  saved  a  yearly  ex- 
pense estimated  at  $14,000,  a  large  sum  in  those 
days.     (6)  The  governor b  was  given  the  veto 

a  By  later  amendments,  judges  of  the  Supreme  Court  of 
Errors  and  the  Superior  Court  are  nominated  hy  the  governor 
and  appointed  hy  the  General  Assembly.  Judges  of  probate 
are  now  elected  by  the  electors  in  their  respective  districts ; 
justices  of  the  peace  in  the  several  towns  by  the  electors  in 
said  towns  ;   and  sheriffs  by  their  counties. 

b  By  amendment  of  1901,  the  vote  for  governor,  lieutenant- 
governor,  secretary,  treasurer,  comptroller,  and  attorney-gen- 
eral was  changed  from  a  majority  to  a  plurality  vote,  the 
Assembly  to  decide  between  candidates,  if  at  any  time  two 
or  more  should  receive  "an  equal  and  the  greatest  number  " 

Of  VOt<  s. 


LIBERTY   IN  CONNECTICUT  495 

power,  although  a  simple  majority  of  the  legisla- 
ture could  override  it.  (7)  The  salaries  of  the 
governor,  lieutenant-governor,  senators,  and  re- 
presentatives were  fixed  by  statute,  and  were  not 
alterable  to  affect  the  incumbent  during  his  term 
of  office.  (8)  And  finally,  the  union  of  Church 
and  State  was  dissolved,  and  all  religious  bodies 
were  placed  upon  a  basis  of  voluntary  support. 

Among  the  minor  changes,  the  law  that  before 
the  constitution  of  1818  had  conferred  the  right 
of  marrying  people  upon  the  located  ministers 
and  magistrates  only,  thereby  practically  exclud- 
ing Baptist,  Methodist  and  Universalist  clergy, 
now  extended  it  to  these  latter.  While  formerly 
the  only  literary  institution  favored  was  Yale 
College,  Trinity  College,  despite  a  strong  oppo- 
sition, was  soon  given  its  charter,  and  one  was 
granted  later  to  the  Methodists  for  Wesleyan 
College  at  Middletown.  Moreover,  the  govern- 
ment appropriated  to  both  institutions  a  small 
grant.  The  teaching  of  the  catechism,  previously 
enforced  by  law  in  every  school,  became  optional. 
Soon  a  normal  school,  free  to  all  within  the  state, 
was  opened.  The  support  of  religion  was  left 
wholly  to  voluntary  contributions.0    The  political 

a "  It  cut  the  churches  loose  from  dependence  upon  state 
support.  It  threw  them  wholly  on  their  own  resources  and  on 
God."  "  The  mass  is  changing,"  wrote  Dr.  Beecher.   "We  are 


496    RELIGIOUS  LIBERTY  IN  CONNECTICUT 

influence  of  the  Congregational  clergy  was  gone. 
"  The  lower  magistracy  was  distributed  as  equally 
as  possible  among  the  various  political  and  re- 
ligious interests,"  and  the  higher  courts  were 
composed  of  judges  of  different  political  opinions. 
The  battle  for  religious  liberty  was  won,  Church 
and  State  divorced,  politics  and  religion  torn 
asunder.  The  day  of  complete  religious  liberty 
had  dawned  in  Connecticut,  and  in  a  few  years 
the  strongest  supporters  of  the  old  system  would 
acknowledge  the  superiority  of  the  new.  As  the 
"  old  order  changed,  yielding  place  to  new,"  many 
were  doubtful,  many  were  fearful,  and  many 
there  were  who  in  after  years,  as  they  looked 
backward,  would  have  expressed  themselves  in 
the  frank  words  of  one  of  their  noblest  leaders  :  a 
"  For  several  clays,  I  suffered  what  no  tongue  can 
tell  for  the  best  thing  that  eve?'  happened  to  the 
State  of  Connecticut" 

becoming  another  people.   The  old  laws  answered  when  all 
men  in  a  parish  were  of  one  faith." —  Lyman  Beecher,  Auto- 
biography, i,  pp.  344,  453. 
11  Lyman  Beecher. 


APPENDIX 


NOTES 

Chapter  I.  The  Evolution   of  Early  Congrega- 
tionalism. 

1,  p.  3.  H.  M.  Dexter,  Congregationalism  as  seen  in  Lit- 
erature, p.  49. 

2,  p.  8.  Robert  Browne,  A  True  and  Short  Declaration, 
p.l. 

3,  p.  9.  H.  M.  Dexter,  Congregationalism  as  seen  in  Lit- 
erature, p.  70. 

4,  p.  11.  Report  of  Conference  April  3,  1590,  quoted  in 
F.  J.  Powicke,  Henry  Barrowe,  p.  54. 

5,  p.  13.  W.  Walker,  Creeds  and  Platforms,  p.  12. 

6,  p.  13.  Ibid.,  pp.  14,  15  ;  also  H.  M.  Dexter,  Congrega- 
tionalism as  seen  in  Literature,  pp.  96-104. 

7,  p.  13.  Robert  Browne,  A  Treatise  on  Reformation  with- 
out Tarrying,  pp.  4,  7, 12. 

8,  p.  13.  Robert  Browne,  A  True  and  Short  Declaration, 
p.  7  ;  Book  which  Sheweth,  pp.  117-148. 

9,  p.  13.  Robert  Browne,  Book  which  Sheweth,  Questions 
55-58. 

10,  p.  15.  Ibid.,  Def.  35-40;  Henry  Barrowe,  Discovery 
of  False  Churches,  p.  34,  and  The  True  Description  in 
Appendix  IV  of  F.  J.  Powicke's  Henry  Barrowe. 

11,  p.  15.  Robert  Browne,  Book  which  Sheweth,  Def.  53 
and  54. 

12,  p.  16.  Henry  Barrowe,  Discovery  of  False  Churches, 
p.  48. 

13,  p.  19.  Henry  Barrowe,  Discovery  of  False  Churches, 
pp.  166,  275;  Robert  Browne,  Book  which  Sheweth, 
Def.  51;  A  True  and  Short  Declaration,  p.  20;  The 
True  Confession  of  Faith,  Article  38. 

14,  p.  21.    H.  M.  Dexter,  Congregationalism  as  seen  in 


500  NOTES 

Literature,  pp.  221,  232  ;   also  John  Brown,  Pilgrim 
Fathers  of  New  England,  pp.  22-25. 

15,  p.  32.  The  True  Confession,  Art.  39. 

16,  p.  33.  "  The  Seven  Articles,"  of  which  the  following 
is  the  text:  — 

(1)  "  To  ye  confession  of  fayth  published  in  ye  name  of  ye  Church 
of  England  and  to  every  artikell  thereof  wee  do  wth  ye  reformed 
churches  wheer  wee  live  &  also  els  where  assent  wholly." 

(2)  "And  as  wee  do  acknowlidg  yc  doctryne  of  fayth  theer 
tawght  so  do  wee  ye  fruites  and  effeckts  of  ye  same  docktryne  to 
ye  begetting  of  saving  fayth  in  thousands  in  ye  land  (conformistes 
&  ref ormistes)  as  ye  ar  called  wth  whom  also  as  w*  our  brethren 
wee  do  desyer  to  keepe  speirtuall  communion  in  peace  and  will 
pracktis  in  our  parts  all  lawful  thinges." 

(3)  "  The  King's  Majesty  wee  acknowlidg  for  Supreme  Gover- 
nor in  his  dominion  in  all  causes,  and  over  all  parsons  [persons] 
and  y*  none  maye  decklyne  or  apeale  his  authority  or  judgment  in 
any  cause  whatsoever,  but  y'  in  all  thinges  obedience  is  dewe  unto 
him,  either  active,  if  ye  thing  commanded  be  not  against  God's 
woord,  or  passive  yf  itt  bee,  except  pardon  can  bee  obtayned." 

(4)  "  Wee  judge  itt  lawfull  for  his  Majesty  to  apoynt  bishops, 
civill  overseers,  or  officers  in  awthoryty  onder  hime  in  ye  sever- 
all  provinces,  dioses,  congregations  or  parishes,  to  oversee  ye 
churches,  and  goveme  them  civilly  according  to  ye  Lawes  of  ye 
Land,  untto  whom  ye  ar  in  all  thinges  to  geve  an  account  and  by 
them  to  bee  ordered  according  to  Godlyness."  (This  is  not  an 
acknowledgment  of  spiritual  superiority  or  authority,  only  the 
recognition  that  as  church  officers  were  also  magistrates,  the 
king  could  appoint  them  as  his  civil  servants.) 

(5)  "  The  authority  of  ye  present  bishops  in  ye  land  wee  do 
acknowlidg  so  far  forth  as  ye  same  is  indeed  derived  from  his 
Majesty  untto  them  and  as  ye  proseed  in  his  name,  whom  wee 
will  also  therein  honor  in  all  thinges  and  hime  in  them." 

(6)  "  Wee  believe  y4  no  sinod,  classes,  convocation  or  assembly 
of  Ecclesiastical  Officers  hath  any  power  or  authority  att  all  but 
ye  same  by  ye  Majestraet  given  unto  them."  (Intended  to  be  a 
denial  of  Presbyterianism.) 

(7)  "  Lastly  wee  desyer  to  geve  untto  all  Superiors  dew  honour 
to  preserve  ye  unity  of  ye  spiritt  wth  all  yl  feare  God  to  have 
peace  wth  all  men  what  in  us  lyeth  and  wherein  wee  err  to  bee 
instructed  by  any."  (Text  of  Points  of  Difference  and  Seven 
Articles  in  W.  Walker,  Creeds  and  Platforms,  pp.  75-93.) 

Chapter  II.  The  Transplanting  of  Congregation- 
alism. 

17,  p.  45.  The  Commons  prayed,  "that  no  man  hereafter 
be  compelled  to  make  or  yield  any  gift,  loan,  benevo- 


NOTES  501 

lence,  tax,  or  such  like  charge,  without  common  con- 
sent by  Act  of  Parliament.  And  that  none  be  called  to 
make  answer,  op  to  take  such  oaths,  or  to  be  confined 
or  otherwise  molested  or  disputed  concerning  the  same, 
or  for  refusal  thereof.  And  that  no  freeman  may  in 
such  manner  as  is  before  mentioned  be  imprisoned  or 
detained."  —  Extract  from  the  Petition  of  Right.  See 
J.  R.  Green,  Short  History  of  the  English  People,  pp. 
486,  487. 

18,  p.  45.  E.  H.  Byington,  The  Puritan  in  England  and 
New  England,  pp.  486,  487. 

19,  p.  54.  See  Gott's  Letter  in  Bradford's  Letter-Book, 
Mass.  Hist.  Soc,  iii,  67,  68. 

20,  p.  54.  G.  L.  Walker,  History  of  the  First  Church  in 
Hartford,  p.  154. 

Chapter  III.  Church  and  State  in  New  England. 

21,  p.  60.  Thomas  Hooker,  Survey  of  Church  Discipline, 
chap.  3,  p.  75;  also  Mass.  Col.  Rec,  iii,  424;  J.  Cotton, 
Way  of  the  Churches,  pp.  6,  7. 

22,  p.  60.  J.  Cotton,  Way  of  the  Churches,  pp.  6,  7;  Plym- 
outh Col.  Rec,  ii,  67;  Mass.  Col.  Rec,  i,  216,  iii,  354; 
Hartford  Town  Voter,  in  Conn.  Hist.  Soc.  Coll.,  vi,  32; 
Conn.  Col.  Rec,  i,  311,  545. 

23,  p.  62.  Plymouth  Col.  Laws,  ed.  1836,  p.  258;  Conn. 
Col.  Rec,  i,  pp.  96,  138,  290,  331,  389,  525. 

24,  p.  65.  J.  Cotton,  A  Discourse  about  Civil  Government 
in  a  New  Plantation  whose  Design  is  Religion  (written 
many  years  since),  London,  1643,  pp.  12,  19.  (This  is 
a  misprint  in  the  title-page,  for  the  author  was  John 
Davenport.) 

25,  p.  65.  Mass.  Col.  Rec,  i,  87. 

26,  p.  66.  J.  Cotton,  Keys  of  the  Kingdom  of  Heaven,  pp. 
50,  53. 

27,  p.  66.  Mass.  Law  of  1636;  Conn.  Col.  Rec,  i,  341. 

28,  p.  66.  Conn.  Col.  Rec,  i,  525. 

29,  p.  67.  G.  F.  Ellis,  Puritan  Age  in  Massachusetts,  p.  34. 

30,  p.  68.  Winthrop,  i,  81. 

31,  p.  69.  Mass.  Col.  Rec,  i,  142. 


502  NOTES 

32,  p.  71.  Winthrop,  i,  287;  H.  M.  Dexter,  Ecclesiastical 
Councils  of  New  England,  p.  31. 

33,  p.  71.  J.  A.  Doyle,  Puritan  Colonies,  ii,  70. 

Chapter  IV.   The   Cambridge   Platform  and  the 
Half- Way  Covenant. 

34,  p.  79.  C.  Mather,  Magnalia,  ii,  277. 

35,  p.  80.  Horace  Bushnell,  in  Discourse  on  Christian  Nur- 
ture, p.  25. 

36,  p.  96.  Cotton  Mather,  Magnalia,  ii,  179. 

37,  p.  104.  Results  of  Half-Way  Covenant  Convention, 
Prop.  4.    See  W.  Walker,  Creeds  and  Platforms,  p.  296. 

38,  p.  104.  W.  Walker,  Creeds  and  Platforms,  p.  295.  See 
Question  7,  of  Results. 

39,  p.  110.  Conn.  Col.  Rec,  i,  386,  426. 

40,  p.  111.  Conn.  State  Papers  (Ecclesiastical),  vol.  i,  Doc. 
106.  Quoted  in  the  Church  Review  and  Ecclesiastical 
Register,  x,  p.  116. 

41,  p.  112.  Beardsley,  Hist,  of  the  Church  in  Connecticut, 
i,  101 ;  Perry,  Hist,  of  Epis.  Church  in  the  United  States, 
i,  283,  284. 

42,  p.  113.  Conn.  Col.  Rec,  i,  437,  438. 

43,  p.  114.  G-.  L.  Walker,  Hist,  of  First  Church  in  Hart- 
ford, p.  200. 

44,  p.  115.  Record  of  the  United  Colonies,  i,  506. 

45,  p.  118.  G.  L.  Walker,  Hist,  of  First  Church  in  Hart- 
ford, p.  209. 

46,  p.  119.  L.  Bacon,  Contr.  to  Eccl.  Hist,  of  Connecticut, 
p.  29. 

47,  p.  119.  E.  Stiles,  Christian  Union,  p.  85;  J.  A.  Doyle, 
Puritan  Colonies,  ii,  69;  Conn.  Col.  Rec,  i,  545;  ii,  290 
and  557. 

48,  p.  119.  Conn.  Col.  Rec,  vii,  33;  viii,  74. 

Chapter  V.  A  Period  of  Transition. 

49,  p.  123.  Thomas  Prince,  Christian  History,  i,  94. 

50,  p.  126.  Preface  to  Work  of  the  Reforming  Synod. 

51,  p.  126.  C.  Mather,  Magnalia,  Book  v,  p.  40. 

52,  p.  130.  C.  Mather,  Ratio  Discipline,  p.  17. 


NOTES  503 

53,  p.  132.  C.  M.  Andrews,  Three  River  Towns,  p.  86.  See 
also  Bronson,  Early  Government,  in  New  Haven  Hist. 
Soc.  Papers,  iii,  315;  Conn.  Col.  Rec,  290-293,  321, 
354. 

54,  p.  136.  Conn.  Col.  Rec.,  v,  67. 

55,  p.  136.  L.  Bacon,  Contr.  to  Eccl.  History,  p.  33. 

56,  p.  137.   Conn.  Col.  Rec,  v,  87. 

Chapter  VI.  The  Saybrook  Platform. 

57,  p.  141.  .Saybrook  Platform. 

58,  p.  143.  L.  Bacon,  Thirteen  Historical  Discourses,  pp. 
190,  191. 

59,  p.  144.  S.  Stoddard,  Instituted  Churches,  p.  29. 

60,  p.  144.  Trumbull,  Hist,  of  Connecticut,  i,  406;  T.  Clap, 
Hist,  of  Yale  College,  p.  30. 

61,  p.  145.   Trumbull,  Hist,  of  Connecticut,  i,  406. 

62,  p.  145.  L.  Bacon,  Thirteen  Historical  Discourses,  p. 
190. 

63,  p.  146.  H.  M.  Dexter,  Congregationalism  as  seen  in 
Literature,  pp.  489,  490. 

64,  p.  147.  Conn.  Col.  Rec,  v,  87. 

65,  p.  149.  Ibid.,  v,  50. 

66,  p.  152.  A.  Johnston,  Connecticut,  p.  232. 

Chapter  VII.    The  Saybrook   Platform  and  the 
Toleration  Act. 

67,  p.  163.  John  Bolles,  A  Relation  of  the  Opposition  some 
Baptist  People  met  at  Norwich  in  1761. 

68,  p.  164.  Ibid.,  p.  7. 

69,  p.  166.  Quaker  Laws.  The  New  Haven  Laws  against 
Quakers  deal  thus  fiercely:  — 

"  Whereas  there  is  a  cursed  sect  of  heretics  lately  risen  up  in 
the  world,  which  are  commonly  called  Quakers,  who  take  upon 
them  that  they  are  immediately  sent  of  God-  and  infallibly 
assisted  by  his  spirit,  who  yet  write  and  speak  blasphemous 
opinions,  despise  governments  and  the  order  of  God,  in  church 
and  commonwealth  ...  we  do  hereby  order  and  declare 

"  That  whosoever  shall  hereafter  bring,  or  cause  to  be  brought, 
directly  or  indirectly,  any  known  Quaker  or  Quakers,  or  other 
blasphemous  heretics,  into  this  jurisdiction,  every  such  person 
shall  forfeit  the  sum  of  500  pounds  to  the  jurisdiction,  except  it 


504  NOTES 

appear  that  he  wanted  true  knowledge  or  information  of  their 
heing  such  .  .  .  and  it  is  hereby  ordered  that  what  Quaker  or 
Quakers  soever  come  into  this  jurisdiction,  from  foreign  parts  or 
places  adjacent,  if  it  be  about  their  civil,  lawful  occasions  to  be 
quickly  despatched  among  us,  which  time  of  stay  shall  be  limited 
by  the  civil  authority  in  each  plantation,  and  that  they  shall  not 
use  any  means  by  words,  writings,  books,  or  any  other  way,  to  go 
about  to  seduce  others,  nor  revile  nor  reproach,  nor  any  other 
way  make  disturbance  or  offend.  They  shall  upon  their  first 
arrival,  or  coming  in,  appear  to  be  brougbt  before  the  authorities 
of  the  place  and  from  them  have  license  to  put  about  and  issue 
their  lawful  occasions,  and  shall  have  one  or  more  to  attend  upon 
them  at  their  charge  until  such  occasions  of  theirs  be  discharged, 
and  they  return  out  of  the  jurisdiction  which  if  they  refuse  to  do, 
they  shall  be  denied  such  free  passage  and  commerce  and  be 
caused  to  return  back  again,  but  if  this  first  time  they  shall  offend 
in  any  of  the  ways  as  before  expressed,  and  contrary  to  the 
intent  of  this  law,  they  shall  be  committed  to  prison,  severely 
whipped,  kept  to  work,  and  none  suffered  to  converse  with  them 
during  their  imprisonment,  which  shall  be  no  longer  than  neces- 
sity requires,  and  at  their  own  charge  sent  out  of  the  jurisdiction." 

For  a  second  offense,  they  were  to  be  branded,  as  well  as  to  be 
committed  to  prison.  For  a  fourth  offense,  they  were  to  have 
their  tongues  bored  through  with  hot  irons.  Their  books,  papers, 
etc.,  were  to  subject  their  possessors  to  a  fine  of  5  pounds,  and  en- 
tertaining or  concealing  a  Quaker  was  to  be  punished  by  a  fine  of 
20s. ;  while  undertaking  to  defend  any  of  their  heretical  opinions 
was  doubly  fined.  —  New  Haven  Col.  Eec,  ii,  217,  238,  363. 

In  1656,  the  Connecticut  Court,  in  conformity  to  a  suggestion 
from  the  commissioners  of  the  United  Colonies,  ordered  that "  no 
towne  within  this  jurisdiction  shall  entertaine  any  Quakers, 
Ranters,  Adamites,  or  such  notorious  heretiques,  or  suffer  them 
to  continue  with  them  above  the  space  of  fourteen  days,  .  .  .  and 
shall  give  notice  to  the  two  next  towns  to  send  them  on  their 
way  under  penalty  of  £5  per  week  for  any  town  entertaining  any 
such  person,  nor  shall  any  master  of  a  ship  land  such  or  any." 
In  August,  1657,  the  above  fine  was  imposed  on  the  individual 
who  entertained  the  Quaker,  etc.,  as  well  as  on  the  town,  and  an 
officer  was  appointed  to  examine  suspects.  A  little  later,  a 
penalty  of  10s.  was  imposed  for  Quaker  books  and  MSS.  found  in 
the  possession  of  any  but  a  teaching  elder.  Twice  the  Court  saw 
fit  to  leave,  notwithstanding  all  former  orders,  all  such  cases 
to  the  jurisdiction  of  the  separate  towns,  to  order  fines,  banish- 
ment, or  corporal  punishment,  provided  the  fines  "  exceed  not 
ten  pounds." 

The  tone  is  brief  and  businesslike,  dealing  with  a  matter  that 
had  already  caused  great  trouble  to  the  other  United  Colonies, 
and  which  might  become  a  menace  to  Connecticut.  There  are 
almost  no  recorded  cases  of  sentence  being  imposed. 

See  Conn.  Col.  llec,  i,  283,  303,  308,  324. 


NOTES  505 

70,  p.  166.  J.  Bowden,  History  of  the  Society  of  Friends, 
i,  104,  quoting  Norton's  Ensign,  p.  52. 

71,  p.  167.  Ibid.,  i,  106. 

72,  p.  167.  Ibid.,  i,  440. 

73,  p.  170.  R.  P.  Hallowell,  The  Pioneer  Quakers,  p.  47. 

74,  p.  171.  R.   R.  Hinman,  Antiquities  of   the    Charter 
Government  of  Connecticut,  p.  229. 

75,  p.  175.  E.  E.   Beardsley,  History  of  the  Episcopal 
Church  in  Connecticut,  i,  19. 

76,  p.  175.  A.  L.  Cross,  Anglican  Episcopate  in  the  Ameri- 
can Colonies,  pp.  33  et  seq. 

77,  p.  177.  Ibid.,  p.  95,  note. 

78,  p.  177.  C.  F.  Hawkins,  Missions  of  the  Church  of  Eng- 
land, 377,  378. 

79,  p.  180.  Church  Documents,  Conn.,  i,  14. 

80,  p.  185.  Ibid.,  i,  59. 

81,  p.  186.  Ibid.,  i,  136. 

Chapter  VIII.     The  First  Victory  for  Dissent. 

82,  p.  194.  Church  Documents,  Conn.,  i,  153. 

83,  p.  197.  Ibid.,  i,  56. 

84,  p.  197.  S.  D.  McConnell,  History  of  the  American 
Episcopal  Church,  p.  132. 

85,  p.  201.  Conn.  Col.  Rec,  viii,  106  ;  and  Church  Docu- 
ments, Conn.,  i,  280,  283. 

86,  p.  202.  Conn.  Col.  Rec,  vii,  459,  and  viii,  123,  334. 

87,  p.  205.  Rogerine  Laws.    See  Conn.  Col.  Rec,  v.  248, 
249. 

88,  p.   207.  C.  W.  Bowen,  The  Boundary  Disputes  of 
Connecticut,  especially  pp.  48,  58,  and  74. 

89,  p.  207.  The  Talcott  Papers,  published  in  vols,  iv  and  v 
of  the  Conn.  Hist.  Soc  Collections. 

90,  p.  209.  Conn.  Col.  Rec,  iv,  307. 

91,  p.  210.  Talcott  Papers,  i,  147,  189,  and  ii,  245,  246, 
in  Conn.  Hist.  Soc.  Collections,  vols,  iv  and  v. 

92,  p.  214.  C.  M.  Andrews,  The  Connecticut  Intestacy 
Law,  in  Yale  Review,  iii,  261  et  seq. 

93,  p.  216.  Conn.  Col.  Rec,  vii,  237. 

94,  p.  217.  Ibid.,  vii,  257. 


506  NOTES 

Chapter  IX.   The  Great  Awakening. 

95,  p.  223.  Jonathan  Edwards'  Works,  iv,  306-324. 

96,  p.  224,  Ibid.,  iv,  81. 

97,  p.  225.  Lauer,  Church  and  State,  p.  77  ;  also  Conn. 
Col.  Rec,  vi,  33. 

98,  p.  226.  A.  Johnston,  Hist,  of  Conn.,  pp.  255,  256;  also 
H.  Bronson,  Historical  Account  of  Conn.  Currency,  in 
New  Haven  Hist.  Soc.  Papers,  i,  51  et  seq. 

99,  p.  227.  Joseph  Tracy,  The  Great  Awakening,  p.  13. 

100,  p.  231.  Edwards'  Works,  iv,  34-37. 

Chapter  X.   The  Great  Schism. 

101,  p.  233.  Conn.  Col.  Rec,  vii,  309. 

102,  p.  235.  Ibid.,  viii,  522. 

103,  p.  238.  Charles  Chauncy,  Seasonable  Thoughts,  p. 
249. 

104,  p.  240.  Conn.  Col.  Rec,  viii,  438,  468  ;  also  Joseph 
Tracy,  The  Great  Awakening,  p.  303. 

105,  p.  243.  Conn.  Col.  Rec,  viii,  454  et  seq.;  B.  Trum- 
bull, Hist,  of  Connecticut,  ii,  165;  C.  Chauncy,  Season- 
able Thoughts,  p.  41. 

106,  p.  243.  Conn.  Col.  Rec,  viii,  456. 

107,  p.  244.  Ibid.,  viii,  456. 

108,  p.  244.  Ibid.,  viii,  457. 

109,  p.  245.  Trumbull,  Hist,  of  Conn.,  ii,  135. 

110,  p.  248.  S.  W.  S.  Dutton,  Hist,  of  the  North  Church 
in  New  Haven. 

111,  p.  248.  E.  D.  Larned,  Hist,  of  Windham  County,  vol. 
ii,  book  5,  chapter  3. 

112,  p.  248.  O.  W.  Means,  Hist,  of  the  Enfield  Separate 
Church. 

113,  p.  252.  Conn.  Col.  Rec,  October,  1751. 

114,  p.  254.  E.  D.  Larned,  Hist,  of  Windham  County,  vol. 
ii,  book  5,  chapter  3. 

115,  p.  255.  Conn.  Col.  Rec,  viii,  501. 

116,  p.  255.  Ibid.,  viii,  502. 

117,  p.  256.  E.  D.  Larned,  Hist,  of  Windham  County, 
ii,  417,  419,  425,  426  ;  L.  Bacon,  Thirteen  Historical 
Discourses,  p.  245. 


NOTES  507 

118,  p.  257.  Solomon  Paine's  View,  pp.  15,  16. 

119,  p.  258.  Thomas  Clap,  History  of  Yale,  p.  27. 

120,  p.  258.  G.  P.  Fisher,  Church  of  Christ  in  Yale  Col- 
lege, app.  6.  i 

121,  p.  260.  E.  D.  Larned,  History  of  Windham  County, 
i,  425,  426. 

122,  p.  261.  S.  L.  Blake,  The  Separatists,  pp.  183,  192. 
(This  book  gives  the  origin  and  end  of  every  Separate 
church.)  Also  O.  W.  Means,  History  of  the  Enfield 
Separate  Church. 

123,  p.  262.  Conn.  Col.  Rec,  xii,  269,  341. 

124,  p.  263.  Ibid.,  viii,  507. 

125,  p.  263.  Trumbull,  History  of  Connecticut,  i,  132, 
133. 

126,  p.  267.  W.  C.  Reichel,  Dedication  of  Monuments 
erected  by  the  Moravian  Historical  Societies  in  New 
York  and  Connecticut. 

G.  H.  Loskiel,  Hist,  of  Missions  of  the  United  Breth- 
ren among  the  Indians  of  North  America. 

J.  Heck  welder,  Missions  of  the  United  Brethren 
among  the  Delaware  and  Mohegan  Indians,  pp.  51 
et  seq. 

127,  p.  267.  Conn.  Col.  Rec,  ix,  218. 

128,  p.  268.  I.  Backus,  History  of  the  Baptists,  ii,  80. 

129,  p.  271.  H.  M.  Dexter,  Congregationalism  as  seen  in 
Literature,  p.  503. 

Chapter  XL    The  Abrogation   of  the    Saybrook 
Platform. 

130,  p.  277.  Frederick  Dennison,  Notes  of  the  Baptists 
and  their  Principles  in  Norwich,  Conn.,  p.  10. 

131,  p.  278.  Ibid.,  p.  16. 

132,  p.  278.  Stiles,  Ancient  Windsor,  p.  439. 

133,  p.  278.  C.  H.  S.  Davis,  Hist,  of  Wallingford,  pp.  164- 
210. 

134,  p.  279.  "  To  the  King's  Most  Excellent  Majesty  in 
Council."  (Quoted  in  Frederick  Dennison,  Notes  of 
the  Baptists.) 

135,  p.  281.  T.  Clap,  History  of  Yale,  pp.  41-60. 


508  NOTES 

136,  p.  286.  Quoted  by  E.  H.  Gillett,  Civil  Liberty  in 
Connecticut,  Historical  Magazine,  2d  series,  vol.  iv. 

137,  p.  287.  E.  D.  Lamed,  History  of  Windham  County,  i, 
468. 

138,  p.  289.  Thomas  Darling,  Some  Remarks,  p.  6. 

139,  p.  289.  Ibid.,  p.  41. 

140,  p.  290.  Ibid.,  pp.  43,  46. 

141,  p.  291.  Robert  Ross,  Plain  Address,  p.  54. 

142,  p.  293.  E.  Frothingham,  Key  to  Unlock,  p.  147. 

143,  p.  294.  Ibid.,  pp.  56,  58. 

144,  p.  294.  Ibid.,  pp.  51-53. 

145,  p.  295.  Ibid.,  p.  42. 

146,  p.  296.  Ibid.,  p.  156. 

147,  p.  297.  Ibid.,  p.  181. 

148,  p.  305.  Loomis  and  Calhoun,  Judicial  and  Civil  His- 
tory of  Connecticut,  p.  55. 

149,  p.  311.  M.  C.  Tyler,  Literary  History  of  the  Ameri- 
can Revolution,  i,  133. 

150,  p.  312.  Fulham,  MSS.  cited  in  A.  L.  Cross,  Anglican 
Episcopate  in  the  American  Colonies,  p.  115.  See  also 
pp.  122  et  seq.  and  332,  345. 

151,  p.  318.  A.  L.  Cross,  Anglican  Episcopate,  pp.  164 
and  216.    Perry,  American  Episcopal  Church,  i,  415. 

152,  p.  319.  Minutes  of  the  Association,  i,  3. 

153,  p.  326.  F.  M.  Caulkins,  History  of  Norwich,  p.  363. 

154,  p.  328.  Conn.  Col.  Rec,  xiii,  360. 

155,  p.  329.  I.  Backus,  History  of  the  Baptists,  ii,  340. 

156,  p.  329.  E.  D.  Larned,  History  of  Windham  County, 
ii,  103. 

157,  p.  330.  I.  Backus,  An  Appeal  to  the  Public  for  Reli- 
gious Liberty,  Boston,  1773,  p.  28. 

158,  p.  330.  Ibid.,  p.  13. 

159,  p.  331.  Ibid.,  pp.  43-48. 

160,  p.  333.  John  Wise,  Vindication,  Edition  of  1717, 
p.  84. 

161,  p.  334.  Public  Records  of  the  State  of  Connecticut, 
i,  232. 

162,  p.  335.  Quoted  in  E.  H.  Gillett,  Civil  Liberty  in  Con- 
necticut, Hist.  Magazine,  1868. 


NOTES  509 

163,  p.  336.  I.  Backus,  History  of  the  Baptists,  ii,  304. 

164,  p.  336.  Minutes  of  Hartford  North  Association. 

165,  p.  338.  I.  Foster,  Defense  of  Religious  Liberty,  pp. 
30,  32  ;  also  135  and  142. 

166,  p.  338.  Acts  and  Laws  of  the  State  of  Connecticut, 
1784,  pp.  21,  22,  213,  235. 

Chapter  XII.   Connecticut   at  the  Close  of  the 
Revolution. 

167,  p.  346.  P.  K.  Kilbourne,  History  of  Litchfield,  pp. 
166,  169. 

168,  p.  346.  James  Morris,  Statistical  Account  of  the 
Towns  of  Litchfield  County. 

169,  p.  349.  Judge  Church,  in. his  Litchfield  County  Cen- 
tennial Address. 

170,  p.  349.  J.  D.  Champlin,  Jr.,  "Litchfield  Hill." 

171,  p.  350.  Noah  Webster,  Collection  of  Essays  (ed.  of 
1790),  p.  379. 

172,  p.  351.  Ibid.,  p.  338. 

173,  p.. 351.  Ibid.,  p.  338. 

174,  p.  353.  Letter  of  Sept.  11,  1788,  one  of  the  series  in 
answer  to  the  quotations  from  Richard  Price's  "  Obser- 
vations on  the  Importance  of  the  American  Revolu- 
tion." See  American  Mercury,  Feb.  7,  1785.  Con- 
necticut Journal,  Feb.  16,  and  Connecticut  Courant, 
Feb.  22,  1785. 

175,  p.  355.  James  Schouler,  History  of  the  United 
States,  i,  53. 

176,  p.  360.  Isaac  Backus,  The  Liberal  Support  of  the 
Gospel  Minister,  p.  35. 

177,  p.  360.  Report  of  Superintendent  of  Public  Schools, 
1853,  pp.  62,  63. 

178,  p.  361.  W.  Walker,  The  Congregationalists,  pp.  311 
et  seq. 

179,  p.  362.  John  Lewis,  Christian  Forbearance,  p.  31. 

180,  p.  363.  E.  Stiles,  Diary,  i,  21. 

181,  p.  365.  H.  M.  Dexter,  Congregationalism  as  seen  in 
Literature,  p.  523. 


510  NOTES 

Chapter  XIII.     Certificate    Laws    and   Western 
Land  Bills. 

182,  p.  372.  Acts  and  Laws  of  the  State  of  Connecticut 
(ed.  of  1784),  pp.  403,  404. 

183,  p.  373.  Courant,  May  28,  1791. 

184,  p.  374.  Ibid.,  May  28,  1791. 

185,  p.  376.  J.  Leland,  High  Flying  Churchman,  pp.  10, 
11,  16,  17. 

186,  p.  376.  Acts  and  Laws  (ed.  of  1784),  p.  418. 

187,  p.  378.  Ibid.,  p.  417. 

188,  p.  382.  Cited  from  Report  of  the  Superintendent  of 
Public  Schools,  1853,  p.  65. 

189,  p.  385.  The  American  Mercury,  Feb.  24  and  Apr. 
17,  1794. 

190,  p.  388.  J.  Leland,  A  Blow  at  the  Root,  pp.  7,  8. 

191,  p.  389.  See  Rep.  of  Supt.  of  Public  Schools,  1853, 
pp.  74-95. 

192,  p.  390.  Ibid.,  pp.  101,  102. 

193,  p.  390.  Published  in  Courant  of  March  16,  23  and 
30,  1795. 

194,  p.  390.  See  Hollister,  Hist,  of  Connecticut,  ii,  568- 
575;  Report  of  Superintendent  of  Public  Schools,  1853; 
Swift's  System  of  Laws,  i,  142  et  seq. 

Chapter  XIV.  The  Development  of  Political  Par- 
ties in  Connecticut. 

195,  p.  399.  Wolcott  Manuscript,  in  vol.  iv,  Library  of 
Conn.  Historical  Society,  Hartford,  Conn. 

196,  p.  403.  Judge  Church's  Manuscript,  deposited  with 
New  Haven  Historical  Society. 

197,  p.  404.  Swift,  System  of  the  Laws  of  Connecticut, 
i,   55-58. 

198,  p.  408.  Hollister,  Hist,  of  Connecticut,  ii,  510-514, 
quoting  Judge  Church. 

199,  p.  412.  D.  G.  Mitchell,  American  Lands  and  Let- 
ters, i,  142  ;  F.  B.  Dexter,  Hist,  of  Yale,  p.  87. 

200,  p.  414.  Minutes  of  the  General  Association,  Report 
of  the  Session  of  1797. 


NOTES  511 

201,  p.  425.  A.  Bishop,  Proofs  of  a  Conspiracy,  p.  32. 

202,  p.  427.  Connecticut  Journal,  April  30,  1816,  quotes 
the  Petition  and  reply. 

203,  p.  430.  J.  Leland,  Van  Tromp  lowering  his  Peak,  p. 
33. 

204,  p.  431.  A.  Bishop,  Oration  in  Honor  of  the  Election 
of  Jefferson,  pp.  9,  10,  11-16. 

205,  p.  437.  Judge  Church's  Manuscript. 

206,  p.  438.  Lyman  Beecher,  Autobiography,  i,  257,  259, 
260,  342,  343. 

207,  p.  450.  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  Article 
II,  Sect,  ii,  1;  Art.  I,  Sect,  viii,  15.  For  the  corre- 
spondence between  General  Dearborn  and  Gov.  J.  C. 
Smith,  see  Niles'  Register,  viii,  209-212. 

208,  p.  461.  Hildreth,  History  of  United  States,  vi,  319- 
325;  Schouler,  Hist,  of  United  States,  ii,  270. 

209,  p.  463.  Niles'  Register,  viii,  291;  ix,  171;  also  Amer- 
ican Mercury  of  April  19,  1815. 

210,  p.  464.  New  Haven  Register,  and  also  the  American 
Mercury  of  Feb.  12,  1817. 

211,  p.  467.  Niles'  Register,  xi,  80. 

212,  p.  475.  Swift,  System  of  Law,  i,  74. 

213,  p.  477.  Swift,  Vindication  of  the  calling  of  the  Spe- 
cial Superior  Court,  pp.  40^12. 

214,  p.  482.  Report  of  the  Committee.  See  also  J.  H. 
Trumbull,  Historical  Notes,  pp.  43-47. 

215,  p.  487.  Connecticut  Courant  of  Aug.  25,  1818. 

216,  p.  487.  J.  H.  Trumbull,  Historical  Notes,  pp.  55,  56. 

217,  p.  492.  Journal  of  the  Convention,  pp.  49,  67.  (The 
Connecticut  Courant  and  the  American  Mercury  pub- 
lished the  debates  of  the  Convention  in  full  as  they 
occurred.) 

218,  p.  492.  Trumbull,  Historical  Notes,  p.  60.  See  also 
the  text,  preceding  this  note,  p.  483. 

The  Constitution  of  1818,  admirable  for  the  conditions  of  that 
time,  leaves  now  large  room  for  betterment.  The  century-old 
habit  of  legislative  interference  was  not  wholly  uprooted  in  1818, 
and  soon  began  to  grow  apace.  The  Constitution  stands  to-day 
with  its  original  eleven  articles  and  with  thirty-one  amendments, 


512  NOTES 

some  of  which,  at  least  in  their  working,  are  directly  opposed  to 
the  spirit  of  the  framers  of  the  commonwealth.  The  old  cry  of 
excessive  legislative  power  is  heard  again,  for  the  legislature  hy 
a  majority  of  one  may  override  the  governor's  veto,  and,  through 
its  powers  of  confirmation  and  appointment,  it  may  measurably 
control  the  executive  department  and  the  judicial.  Moreover, 
apart  from  these  defects  in  the  constitution,  certain  economic 
changes  have  resulted  in  a  disproportionate  representation  in  the 
House  of  Representatives.  The  Joint-Stock  Act  of  1837  gave  birth 
to  great  corporations,  and  with  railroads  soon  developed  the  for- 
mation of  large  manufacturing  plants.  As  a  result,  there  was  a 
rush,  at  first,  of  the  native  born,  and,  later,  of  large  numbers  of 
immigrants,  who  swelled  the  population,  to  the  cities.  This,  to- 
gether with  the  development  of  the  great  grain-producing  western 
states,  changed  Connecticut  from  an  agricultural  to  a  manufac- 
turing state,  and  from  a  producer  of  her  own  foodstuffs  to  a  con- 
sumer of  those  which  she  must  import  from  other  states. 

Such  shifting  of  the  population  has  produced  a  condition  where 
a  bare  majority  of  one  in  a  House  of  two  hundred  and  fifty-five 
members  may  pass  a  measure  that  really  represents  the  senti- 
ment of  but  one-fifteenth  of  the  voters  of  the  state.  There  re- 
sults a  system  of  rotten  boroughs  and  the  opportunity  for  a  well- 
organized  lobby  and  the  moneyed  control  of  votes.  It  is  asserted 
that  the  first  section  of  the  bill  of  rights,  namely,  "  That  no  man 
or  set  of  men  are  entitled  to  exclusive  public  emoluments  or  priv- 
ileges from  the  community,"  is  constantly  violated  by  this  mis- 
representation, which  especially  affects  the  population  in  the 
cities,  and  is  felt  not  only  in  all  state  measures,  but  in  all  local 
ones  about  which  the  legislature  must  be  consulted.  As  an  illus- 
tration of  the  inequality  of  representation,  the  following  figures 
are  given.  In  the  Constitutional  Convention  of  1818, 81  towns  sent 
two  delegates  each,  and  39  towns  sent  one  from  communities  out 
of  which  11  had  a  population  of  less  than  1000,  and  100  ranged 
between  1000  and  4000,  while  only  9  surpassed  this  last  number. 
In  the  Constitutional  Convention  of  1902, 87  towns,  with  an  aggre- 
gate population  of  781,954,  sent  each  two  delegates,  while  81,  with 
a  combined  population  of  120,411,  sent  each  one  delegate.  Thus 
it  happened  that  in  1902,  New  Haven,  population  108,027,  sent  two 
delegates,  and  the  town  of  Union,  population  428,  also  sent  two 
delegates,  while  ten  other  towns,  with  a  population  ranging  from 
593  to  885  each,  sent  two  delegates. 

The  "  Standing  Order"  of  to-day  is  not  a  privileged  church,  but 
a  dominant  political  party  strong  in  the  privilege  and  powers 
derived  from  long  tenure  of  office  and  intrenched  behind  consti- 
tutional amendments  which,  in  addition  to  this  unequal  repre- 
sentation in  the  House,  provide  for  the  election  of  Senators 
upon  town  and  county  lines  rather  than  upon  population.  The 
Constitutional  Reform  Party  of  to-day  propose  radical  measures 
to  remedy  these  more  glaring  defects  in  the  administration  of 
government,  and  to  consider  these,  called  the  Constitutional  Con- 


NOTES  513 

J2SJ12  If2,  In  *  ?e  influence  of  the  sma11  towns  on  the 

diafting  of  the  proposed  coustitution  was  so  great  that,  when  it 
was  presented  to  the  people  for  ratification,  an  adverse  majority 
in  every  county  refused  to  accept  it.    In  fact,  only  fifteen  per 

op?nion  atealT         ^^  th°Ught  "  W01*th  While  t0  express  *"* 

References  for  the  Constitutional  Convention  of  1902:  Clarence 

Dennng  Town  Rule  in  Connecticut,  Political  Science  Quarter^ 

frt\TZ\  Ti'  "!?  M-,B;  Carey'  The  Connecticut  Constitution! 
(These  will  be  found  useful  as  summing  up  much  of  the  newspa- 
per discussion  of  the  period,  and  also  for  the  data  upon  St 
the  argument  for  the  desired  changes  is  based.)    There  is  also 

2tS°TotUt  T  °f  Connecticut'  with  Notes  Ld  Statisicsare 
gardmg  Town  Representation  in  the  General  Assembly,  and 
Documents  relating  to  the  Constitutional  Convention  of  1902  » 
printed  by  order  of  the  Comptroller,  Hartford,  Conn 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 

A.   HISTORIES 

1.  General 

A  few  titles  are  given  of  those  works  found  most  useful  in  ac- 
quiring a  general  historic  setting  for  the  main  topic. 

Bancroft,  George.  History  of  the  United  States.  New 
York,  1889. 

Gardiner,  S.  R.  History  of  England  from  Accession  of 
James  I.    London,  1863. 

History  of  England  under  the  Duke  of  Buckingham 

and  Charles  I.    London,  1875. 

History  of   the    Commonwealth   and    Protectorate. 

London  and  New  York,  1894-1903. 

Green,  John  Richard.  Short  History  of  the  English  Peo- 
ple.   London,  1884. 

History  of  the  English  People.    New  York,  1880.   4 

vols.,  chiefly  vol.  iii. 

Hildreth,  Richard.  History  of  the  United  States  to  1824. 
New  York,  1887.   6  vols. 

McMaster,  John  Bach.  A  History  of  the  People  of  the 
United  States  from  the  Revolution  to  the  Civil  War. 
New  York,  1884-1900.    5  vols. 

Schouler,  James.  History  of  the  United  States  of  Amer- 
ica under  the  Constitution.  Washington,  Philadelphia, 
and  New  York,  1882-99.   6  vols. 

Tyler,  Moses  Coit.  A  History  of  American  Literature, 
1607-1765.    New  York,  1879.    2  vols. 

The  Literary  History  of  the  American  Revolution, 

1763-1783.    New  York  and  London,  1897.   2  vols. 

Winsor,  Justin.  Narrative  and  Critical  History  of  Amer- 
ica.  Cambridge,  1886-89.    8  vols. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  515 


2.  Special 


Adams,  Henry.     Documents   relating  to  New  England 

Federalism,  1800-1815.    Boston,  1877. 
Adams,  John.    Works  with  a  Life  of  the  Author,  Notes 

and  Illustrations.     (Ed.   by  Charles  Francis  Adams.) 

Boston,  1850-56.    10  vols. 
Arber,  Edward.   The  Story  of  the  Pilgrim  Fathers,  1606- 

1623  A.  d.  as  told  by  themselves,  their  Friends  and  their 

Enemies,  edited  from  the  original  Texts.    London,  1897. 
Barlow,  Joel.    Political  Writings.    New  York,  1796. 
Bradford,  William.     History  of  "Plimoth"  Plantation. 

Reprint  from  original  MS.  with  report  of  proceedings 

incident  to  its  return.    Boston,  1898. 
Brown,  John.    The  Pilgrim  Fathers  of  New  England  and 

their  Puritan  Successors.  London,  1895.  Revised  Amer- 
ican ed.  1897.« 
Byington,  Ezra  B.     The  Puritan  in  England  and  New 

England.    Boston,  1897. 
Campbell,  Douglas.    The  Puritans  in  Holland,  England 

and  America.    New  York,  1892.   2  vols. 
Cobb,  Sanford  H.    Rise  of  Religious  Liberty  in  America. 

New  York  and  London,  1902. 

Pages  236-290  and  512-514  treat  of  Connecticut,  while  454-482 
deal  with  the  American  Episcopate. 

Doyle,  John  Andrew.  The  English  in  America  ;  The 
Puritan  Colonies.    New  York,  1889.    2  vols. 

Ellis,  George  E.  The  Puritan  Age  and  Rule  in  the  Colony 
of  Massachusetts  Bay,  1629-1685.  Boston  and  New 
York,  1888. 

Felt,  Joseph  Barton.  The  Ecclesiastical  History  of  New 
England,  comprising  not  only  Religious  but  Moral  and 
other  Relations.  Arranged  chronologically  and  with 
index.    Boston,  1855-62.    2  vols. 

Fish,  Carl  Russell.    The  Civil  Service  and  the  Patronage. 

New  York,  1905. 

Pages  32-39,  Jefferson's   removal  of  Mr.  Goodrich  of  New 
Haven. 

«  This  is  the  edition  referred  to  in  text. 


516  BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Fiske,  John.  The  Beginnings  of  New  England;  or,  The 
Puritan  Theocracy  in  its  Relations  to  Civil  and  Reli- 
gious Liberty.    Boston  and  New  York,  1880. 

Gardiner,  S.  II.  The  First  Two  Stuarts  and  the  Puritan 
Revolution,  1603-1660.     London,  1887. 

Goodwin,  John  Abbott.  The  Pilgrim  Republic:  An  His- 
torical Review  of  the  Colony  of  New  Plymouth,  with 
sketches  of  the  Rise  of  other  New  England  Settlements, 
the  History  of  Congregationalism  and  the  Creeds  of 
the  Period  [New  England  to  1732].    Cambridge,  1895. 

Heckewelder,  J.  A  Narrative  of  the  Mission  of  the  United 
Brethren  among  the  Delaware  and  Mohigan  Indians 
from  1740  to  1808.    Philadelphia,  1820. 

Lauer,  P.  E.    Church  and  State  in  New  England.    Balti- 
more, 1892. 
Also  in  Johns  Hopkins  University  Studies,  Nos.  2  &  3. 

Lodge,  Henry  Cabot.  A  Short  History  of  the  English 
Colonies  in  America.    New  York,  1881. 

Love,  Wm.  De  Loss,  Jr.    The  Fasts  and  Thanksgiving 
Days  of  New  England.   Boston,  1895. 
Includes  a  bibliography. 

Loskiel,  George  H.  History  of  the  Missions  of  the  United 
Brethren  among  the  Indians  in  North  America.  Lon- 
don, 1794. 

Mather,  Cotton.     Magnalia  Christi  Americana;  or,   The 
Ecclesiastical  History  of  New  England  from  its  First 
Planting  in  the  Year  1620  to  the  Y"ear  of  our  Lord  1698. 
Ed.  London,  1702,  —  Hartford,  1820.   2  vols." 
3d  ed.  with  Introduction  and  occasional  Notes  by  T.  Bobbins. 

Hartford,  1853,  2  vols. 

Mourt's  Relation  or  Journal  of  a  Plantation  settled  at 

Plymouth,  in  New  England  and  proceedings  Thereof. 

London,  1622. 

-'(1  ed.  Annotated  by  A.  Young.  Boston,  1841.  Also  found  in 
Young's  Chronicle  of  the  Pilgrim  Fathers.  Boston,  184G." 

Reprint  with  illustrative  cuts,  George  B.  Cheever,  Editor,  New 
York,  1849. 

Reprint  ed.  by  H.  M.  Dexter.    Boston,  1865.    (See  vol.  viii,  1st 

«  This  is  the  edition  referred  to  in  text. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  517 

series,  Mass.  Hist.  Soc.  Col.,  also  Library  of  New  England  His- 
tory, vol.  i.) 

Neal,  Daniel.  History  of  the  Puritans,  or  Protestant  Non- 
conformists :  from  the  Reformation  in  1517  to  the  death 
of  Queen  Elizabeth,  with  an  Account  of  their  principles: 
their  Attempts  for  a  further  Reformation  in  the  Church: 
their  Sufferings,  and  the  Lives  and  Characters  of  their 
considerable  Divines,  etc.  London,  1732,  4  vols.  Re- 
vised ed.  London,  1837,  3  vols." 

Palfrey,  John  G.  Comprehensive  History  of  New  Eng- 
land.   Boston,  1858-90.   5  vols. 

Prince,  Thomas.  A  Chronological  History  of  New  Eng- 
land in  the  form  of  Annals.  Boston,  1736.  Edited  by 
Drake  with  Memoir  of  the  Author.     Boston,  1852.° 

Reprint  in  Mass.  Hist.  Soc.  Col.,  2d  series,  vol.  vii,  1818.  New 
edition,  edited  by  N.  Hale.  Boston,  1826.  Found  also  in  Arber's 
English  Garner,  vol.  ii,  1879. 

Reichel,  W.  C.  Memorial  of  the  Dedication  of  Monu- 
ments erected  by  Moravian  Historical  Society  to  mark 
the  sites  of  ancient  missionary  stations.  Philadelphia, 
1858. 

Schaff,  Philip.  Religious  Liberty.  See  American  Histori- 
cal Society  Annual  Report,  1886-87. 

Thornton,  J.  Wingate.  The  Pulpit  of  the  American  Revo- 
lution.   Boston,  1876. 

Weeden,  William  B.  Economic  and  Social  History  of 
New  England.     Boston,  1890.     2  vols. 

Winthrop,  John.  History  of  New  England,  1636-47, 
edited  by  James  Savage.    Boston,  1853.    2  vols. 

Wood,  John  (Cheetham,  James).  History  of  the  Admin- 
istration of  John  Adams.     New  York,  1802. 

History  of  the  Administration  of  J.  Adams,  with 

Notes.     New  York,  1846. 

3.   Statistical 
Baird,  Robert.   Religion  in  America;  or  An  Account  of 
the  Origin,  Relation  to  the  State  and  Present  Condi- 
«  This  is  the  edition  referred  to  in  text 


518  BIBLIOGRAPHY 

tion  of  the  Evangelic  Churches  in  the  United  States. 
New  York,  1856. 
Bishop,  J.   Leander.    A  History  of  American  Manufac- 
tures, 1608-1860.     1868.     3  vols. 

This  includes  a  history  of  the  origin  and  growth  of  the  prin- 
cipal mechanical  arts  and  manufactures :  notice  of  important  in- 
ventions ;  results  of  each  decennial  census ;  tariffs ;  and  statistics 
of  manufacturing  centres.  It  has  a  good  index  by  which  the  in- 
dustrial history  of  each  colony  and  state  can  be  quickly  traced. 

Bolles,  Albert  S.    The  Financial    History  of  the  United 

States.    New  York,  1879-86.    3  vols. 
Carroll,  Henry  King.    Religious  Forces  in  the   United 

States,    enumerated,    classified  and   described   on  the 

basis  of  the  Government  Census  of  1890.    New  York, 

1893. 
Dorchester,  Daniel.     Christianity  in   the  United  States 

from  the  first  settlement    down  to  the  present  time. 

New  York  and  Cincinnati,  1888. 
Hayward,  John.    The  Religious  Creeds  and  Statistics  of 

every  Christian  Denomination  in  the    United  States. 

Boston,  1836. 

4.  Local 

Connecticut  — State,  county,  town,  etc.,  of  which  only  the  more 
important  town  and  county  histories,  and  reports  of  anniversary 
celebrations  are  given.  Those  omitted  are  of  small  interest  out- 
side of  their  respective  towns,  except  to  genealogists  or  to  those 
whose  families  chance  to  be  mentioned  in  the  sketch  of  historical 
development  or  of  commercial  growth.  The  many  books  of  this 
type  contribute  general  coloring,  and  some  of  them  a  few  impor- 
tant bits  of  information,  to  the  story  of  the  development  of  the 
state,  but  many  are  not  worth  enumerating  as  sources,  or  as 
assistants  to  the  general  reader  or  student. 

Allen,  Francis  Olcott.  The  History  of  Enfield,  compiled 
f  rpm  all  the  public  records  of  the  town  known  to  exist, 
covering  from  the  beginning  to  1850.  Lancaster,  1900. 
3  vols. 

Carefully  compiled  and  attested  by  the  town  clerk.  Includes 
also  graveyard  inscriptions  and  extracts  from  Hartford,  North- 
ampton and  Springfield  records. 

Andrews,  Charles  M.  The  River  Towns  of  Connecti- 
cut, Wethersfield,  Hartford  and  Windsor.    Baltimore, 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  519 

1889.     (Also  Johns  Hopkins  Historical  and  Political 
Science  Papers,  vii,  341-456.) 
At  water,  Edward  E.   (editor).    History  of   the  City  of 
New  Haven.     New  York,  1887. 

Good  for  the  earlier  history,  for  a  few  extracts  from  records ; 
contains  descriptions  of  public  men  and  events,  also  extracts 
from  old  newspapers,  etc. 

History  of  the  Colony  of  New  Haven  to  its  absorp- 
tion into  Connecticut.     New  Haven,  1881. 

A  much  better  book,  being  the  best  special  history  of  the  New 
Haven  Colony. 

Baldwin,  Simeon  E.  Constitutional  Reform.  A  Discus- 
sion of  the  Present  Inequalities  of  Representatives  in 
the  General  Assembly  [of  Connecticut].  New  Haven, 
1873. 

The   Early  History   of  the  Ballot  in   Connecticut. 

American  Historical  Association  Papers,  i,  407-422. 
New  York,  1890. 

The  Three  Constitutions  of   Connecticut.   In  New 

Haven  Historical  Society  Papers,  vol.  v. 

Barber,  John  W.  Connecticut  Historical  Collections. 
New  Haven,  1856. 

A  book  of  brief  anecdotal  town  histories,  curious  legends,  no- 
table events,  newspaper  clippings,  together  with  a  goodly  number 
of  illustrations. 

Bolles,  John  Rogers.  The  Rogerenes  :  Some  hitherto  un- 
published annals  belonging  to  the  Colonial  History  of 
Connecticut.  Part  1.  A  Vindication,  by  J.  R.  Bolles. 
Part  2.  History  of  the  Rogerenes,  by  Anna  B.  Wil- 
liams.    Boston,  1904. 

Bowen,  Clarence  W.  The  Boundary  Disputes  of  Con- 
necticut.  Boston,  1882. 

Breckenridge,  Francis  A.    Recollections  of  a  New  Eng- 
land Town  (Meriden).    Meriden,  1899. 
Typical  of  the  life  in  New  England  towns,  1800-1850. 

Bronson,  Henry.  Early  Government  of  Connecticut. 
(New  Haven  Historical  Society  Papers,  iii,  293  et 
seq.) 


520  BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Bushnell,  Horace.    "  Work  and  Play,"  being  the  first  vol- 
ume of  his  "  Literary  Varieties."     New  York,  1881. 
Contains  an  historical  estimate  of  Connecticut. 

Caulkins,  Frances  M.  History  of  New  London,  Con- 
necticut.    New  London,  1852. 

History  of  Norwich,  Connecticut.     Norwich,  1845. 

These  two  histories  are  readable,  reliable  and  full  of  detail, 
culled  from  original  records,  many  of  which  are  now  deposited 
with  the  New  London  Historical  Society. 

Clap,  Thomas.  Annals  or  History  of  Yale  College.  New 
Haven,  1766. 

Cothren,  William.  History  of  Ancient  Woodbury,  Con- 
necticut, 1669-1879.  (Including  Washington,  South- 
bury,  Bethlehem,  Roxbury,  and  part  of  Oxford  and 
Middlebury.)    Waterbury,  1854,  1872,  1879.     3  vols. 

Vols,  i  and  ii,  history,  with  considerable  genealogy.  Vol.  iii, 
1679-1879,  births,  marriages  and  deaths. 

Dexter,  Franklin  Bowditch.  Thomas  Clap  and  his  Writ- 
ings.   See  New  Haven  Historical  Society  Papers,  vol.  v. 

Sketch  of  the   History  of   Yale   University.    New 

Haven,  1887. 

Dwight,  Theodore.  History  of  Connecticut.  New  York, 
1841. 

History  of  Hartford  Convention.    Hartford,  1833. 

Of  the  447  pages,  340  are  devoted  to  recounting  the  events 
which  led  to  the  calling  of  the  convention,  and,  with  much  politi- 
cal bias,  to  the  history  of  Jefferson's  political  career  from  1789, 
quoting  from  official  correspondence  and  his  private  letters.  Pages 
340-422  deal  with. the  convention  proper,  giving,  pp.  383-400,  its 
"Secret  Journal."  The  Appendix,  pp.  422-447,  has  brief  bio- 
graphies of  the  members. 

Dwight,  Timothy.     Travels  in  New  England  and  New 

York.     New  Haven,  1831.     4  vols. 
Dodd,  Stephen.    The  East  Haven  Register  in  Three  Parts. 

New  Haven,  1824. 

A  rare  little  book  of  200  pages  compiled  by  the  pastor  of  the 
Congregational  Church  in  East  Haven.  Part  i  contains  a  history 
of  the  town  from  1G40  to  1800;  part  ii,  names,  marriages,  and 
births,  1C44-1800;  part  iii,  account  of  the  deaths  in  families,  from 
1G47  to  1821 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  521 

Field,  David  Dudley.  A  History  of  the  Towns  of  Haddam 
and  East  Haddam.    Middletown,  1814. 

A  book  of  some  forty-eight  pages,  of  which  six  are  devoted  to 
genealogies  "  taken  partly  from  the  records  of  the  towns,  and 
partly  from  the  information  of  aged  people  "  by  the  pastor  of  the 
church  in  Haddam.  Though  largely  ecclesiastical,  its  author  — 
a  college  A.  M.  —  realizes  the  value  of  statistics  in  references  to 
population,  necrology,  taxes,  militia,  farming,  and  other  indus- 
tries, and  weaves  them  into  his  rambling  story. 

Statistical  Account  of   the    County  of  Middlesex. 

Middletown,  1819. 
Fowler,  William  Chauncey.    History  of  Durham,  1662- 

1866. 

Includes  in  chapter  xii  —  pp.  229-443  —  extracts  irom  Town 
Records,  Ministerial  Records,  Proprietor's  Records. 

Gillett,  E.  H.,  Rev.  The  Development  of  Civil  Liberty  in 
Connecticut.  In  Historical  Magazine,  2d  series,  vol.  iv 
(1868),  pp.  1-34,  Appendices,  pp.  34-49.  Morrisania, 
N.  Y.,  1868. 

Appendix  A.  Report  of  the  Rev.  Elizur  Goodrich,  D.  D.,  to  the 
Convention  of  Delegates  from  the  Synod  of  New  York  and  Phila- 
delphia and  from  the  Associations  of  Connecticut,  held  annually 
from  1766  to  1775  inclusive  (being  a  statement  on  the  subject  of 
Religious  Liberty  in  the  Colony),  with  notes  by  E.  H.  G.  pp.  34-43. 

Appendix  B.  Letter  of  Rev.  Thomas  Prince  of  Boston  to  Rev. 
John  Drew  of  Groton,  Conn.,  May  8, 1744,  pp.  43^7.  (Sympathizing 
with  the  New  Lights.) 

Appendix  C.  Three  short  paragraphs  omitted  from  the  body  of 
the  article. 

Appendix  D.  Extracts  from  the  American  reprint  of  Graham's 
"  Ecclesiastical  Establishments  of  Europe,"  pp.  47,  48. 

This  article  in  itself  contains  Israel  Holly's  "Memorial," 
Joseph  Brown's  "  Letter  to  Infant  Baptisers  of  North  Parish  in 
New  London  "  (in  part) ;  also  copious  citations  from  the  pam- 
phlets of  Bolles,  Frothingham,  Bragge,  the  Autobiography  of 
Billy  Hibbard  (Methodist  preacher)  and  extracts  from  Abraham 
Bishop's  pamphlets. 

Hartford  Town  Votes,  1635-1716.  (Transcribed  by 
Chas.  J.  Hoadly.)  See  Connecticut  Historical  Society 
Collections,  1897,  vol.  vi. 

Hollister,  Gideon  H.  Address  in  Litchfield,  April  9, 1856, 
before  the  Historical  and  Antiquarian  Society,  on  the 


522  BIBLIOGRAPHY 

occasion   of    completing    its    organization.     Hartford, 
1856. 
Hollister,  Gideon  H.    The  History  of  Connecticut.    New 
Haven,  1855.     2  vols. 

A  history  of  Connecticut  from  the  first  settlement  of  the  colony 
to  the  adoption  of  the  present  Constitution  in  1818. 

Hurd,  1).  Hamilton.  History  of  Fairfield  County,  Con- 
necticut, with  illustrations  and  Biographical  Sketches 
of  its  Prominent  Men  and  Pioneers.  Philadelphia, 
1881. 

Johnson,  William  Samuel.  Letters  to  the  Governors  of 
Connecticut,  17G6-1771.  See  Mass.  Historical  Society 
Collections,  series  5,  vol.  ix,  pp.  211-490. 

Johnston,  Alexander.  The  Genesis  of  a  New  England 
State,  Connecticut.  Baltimore,  1883.  Revised  1903. 
(Also  in  Johns  Hopkins  University  Studies,  vol.  i, 
no.  11.) 

Connecticut;  a  Study  of  a  Commonwealth  Democ- 
racy.   Boston  and  New  York,  1887.    Revised  1903. 

Jones,  Frederick  R.  History  of  Taxation  in  Connecticut. 
Johns  Hopkins  University  Studies  in  Political  Science, 
series  14,  no.  8.  Baltimore,  1896. 

Journal  of  the  Proceedings  of  the  Convention  of  Dele- 
gates Convened  at  Hartford,  August  26,  1818.  Hart- 
ford, 1873.  Reprinted  by  order  of  the  state  comp- 
troller, Hartford,  1901. 

Kilbourne,  P.  K.  Sketches  and  Churches  of  the  Town  of 
Litchfield.  Historical,  biographical,  statistical.  Hart- 
ford, 1859. 

An  excellent  account,  drawing  in  part  upon  Woodruff's  (George 
C.)  History  of  Litchfield.  is4.r>,  and  Morris'  Statistical  Account  of 
Litchfield  County,  1818,  with  additional  matter. 

Kingsley,  F.  J.  Old  Connecticut.  See  New  Haven  Histori- 
cal Society  Papers,  vol.  iii. 

Kingsley,  James  Luce.  Sketch  of  Yale  College.  Boston, 
1835. 

Lambert,  Edward  R.  History  of  the  Colony  of  New 
Haven,  before  and  after  the  Union  with  Connecticut. 
New  Haven,  1838. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  523 

Lamed,  Ellen  D.  History  of  Windham  County.  Worces- 
ter, 1874.    2  vols. 

One  of  the  best  of  the  local  histories. 

Vol.  i,  book  iii.  Account  of  Canterbury  Church  difficulties  and 
of  the  Clevelands. 

Historic  Gleanings  in  Windham  County,  Connecti- 
cut.   Providence,  1899. 

Levermore,  Charles  H.  The  Republic  of  New  Haven. 
Also  in  Johns  Hopkins  University  Studies,  extra  vol.  i. 
Baltimore,  1886. 

Litchfield  Book  of  Days,  A  collection  of  the  historical, 
biographical  and  literary  reminiscences  of  Litchfield, 
Connecticut.  Edited  by  George  C.  Boswell.  Litch- 
field, 1899. 

Litchfield  County  Centennial  Celebration,  August  13-14, 
1851.    Hartford,  1851. 

Loomis  (Dwight)  and  Calhoun  (J.  Gilbert).  The  Judicial 
and  Civil  History  of  Connecticut.    Boston,  1895. 

Orcutt,  Samuel.  History  of  New  Milford  and  Bridge- 
water,  Connecticut,  1703-1882.    Hartford,  1882. 

History  of  Old  Town  of  Derby.    Springfield,  1880. 

"  Prepared  with  great  fidelity  and  thoroughness,  and  to  take 
rank  with  the  best  town  histories,"  wrote  Noah  Porter  on  Feb.  1, 
1880.  Biography  and  Genealogy,  pp.  523-785. 

History  of  the  Old  Town  of  Stratford  and  the  City 

of  Bridgeport.  New  Haven,  1886.    2  pts. 

The  Proceedings  of  a  Convention  of  Delegates  from  the 
states  of  Massachusetts,  Connecticut,  Rhode  Island,  the 
Counties  of  Cheshire  and  Grafton  in  the  State  of  New 
Hampshire  and  the  County  of  Windham  in  the  State 
of  Vermont  convened  at  Hartford  in  the  State  of  Con- 
necticut, December  15,  1814.     Hartford,  1815. 

Sanford,  Elias  B.    A  History  of  Connecticut.    Hartford, 
1887. 
A  school  history. 

Selleck,  Charles  M.    History  of  Norwalk.  Norwich,  1886. 

Statistical  Account  of  the  Towns  and  Parishes  in  the 
State  of  Connecticut,  published  by  Connecticut  Acad- 


524  BIBLIOGRAPHY 

emy  of  Arts  and  Sciences,  vol.  i,  no.  1.  New  Haven, 
1811. 
Steiner,  Bernard  Christian.  A  History  of  the  Plantation 
of  Menunkatuck  and  of  the  Original  Town  of  Guilford, 
Connecticut  (present  towns  of  Guilford  and  Madison) 
written  largely  from  the  manuscripts  of  The  Hon. 
Ralph  Dunning  Smyth.    Baltimore,  1897. 

The  book  draws  upon  the  preceding  histories  of  Guilford, 
namely  that  of  the  Rev.  Thomas  Ruggles,  Jr.,  and  the  later  sketch 
of  Guilford  and  Madison  by  Daniel  Dudley  Field,  first  written  in 
1827  for  the  Connecticut  Academy  of  Arts  and  Sciences.  It  was 
revised  by  R.  D.  Smyth  in  1840  and  published  in  1877  after  his 
death.  Mr.  Steiner  has  added  matter  derived  from  a  study  of  tbe 
town  records  and  other  sources,  making  a  history  that  covers 
all  points  of  development. 

Governor   William    Leete    and    the    absorption   of 

New  Haven  by  the  Colony  of  Connecticut.  American 
Historical  Association,  Annual  Report,  1891,  pp.  209- 
222. 

History    of    Slavery    in    Connecticut.     (See   Johns 

Hopkins  Historical  Studies,  ii,  30  et  seq.)  Baltimore, 
1893. 

Stiles,  Ezra.  A  Discourse  on  the  Christian  Union.  Brook- 
field,  1799. 

The  Literary  Diary  of  Ezra  Stiles,  edited  under  the 

authority  of  the  corporation  of  Yale  University  by 
F.  B.  Dexter,  M.  A.    New  York,  1901.     3  vols. 

Stiles,  Henry  Reed.  Ancient  Windsor.  Hartford,  1891. 
2  vols. 

Swift,  Zephaniah.  System  of  the  Laws  of  the  State  of 
Connecticut.    Windham,  1795. 

Trumbull,  Benjamin.  A  Complete  History  of  Connecticut, 
Civil  and  Ecclesiastical,  1639  to  1713,  continued  to 
1764.   New  Haven,  1818.    2  vols. 

Reprint  with  Introductory  Notes  and  Index  by  Jonathan 
Trumbull.    New  London,  1898. 

Trumbull,  J.  Hammond  (Editor).  Hartford  County  Me- 
morial History.    Hartford,  1886.    2  vols. 

Vol.  i.  part  I,  Tlio  County  of  Hartford  treated  topically,  as 
early  history,  the  colonial  period,  "Bench  and  Bar,''  "Medical 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  525 

History,"  etc.    Part  ii,  Hartford,  Town  and  City.    Vol.  ii,  Brief 
Histories  of  the  different  towns. 

Trumbull,  J.  Hammond.  Historical  Notes  of  the  Consti- 
tutions of  Connecticut,  1G39  to  1818  ;  and  Progress  of 
the  Movement  which  resulted  in  the  Convention  of 
1818,  and  the  Adoption  of  the  present  Constitution. 
Hartford,  1873.  Reprinted  by  order  of  State  Comp- 
troller, Hartford,  1901. 

Origin  and  Early  Progress  of  Indian  Missions  in 

New  England.    Worcester,  1874. 

Defense  of  Stonington  (Connecticut)  against  a  Brit- 
ish Squadron.    Hartford,  1864. 

The    True   Blue    Laws   of    Connecticut   and    New 

Haven  and  the  False  Blue  Laws  invented  by  the  Rev. 
Samuel  Peters.  To  which  are  added  specimens  of  the 
Laws  of  other  Colonies  and  some  of  the  Blue  Laws  of 
England.   Hartford,  1876. 

List  of    Books  printed   in   Connecticut,  1709-1800 

(edited  by  his  daughter  Annie  E.  Trumbull).  The  list 
contains  1741  titles  and  also  a  list  of  printers.  Hart- 
ford, 1904. 

Webster,  Noah.  Collection  of  Papers  on  Political,  Liter- 
ary and  Moral  Subjects.    New  York,  1843. 

5.  Local  Biographies 

Bacon,  Leonard.  Sketch  of  Life  and  Public  Services  of 
James  Hillhouse.    New  Haven,  1860. 

Blake,  B.  L.  Gurdon  Saltonstall.  In  New  London  His- 
torical Society  Papers,  part  5,  vol.  i. 

Dexter,  Franklin  B.  Biographical  Sketches  of  Graduates 
of  Yale.  3  vols.  May,  1701-May,  1745;  New  York, 
1885.  May,  1745-May,  1763;  New  York,  1896.  May, 
1763-May,  1778;  New  York,  1903. 

Kilbourne,  P.  K.  Biographical  History  of  the  County  of 
Litchfield.     New  York,  1851. 

Mitchell,  Donald  G.   American  Lands  and  Letters.    3  vols. 

First  volume,  for  early  newspapers,  the  Hartford  Wits  and 
literati  of  the  colonial  period. 


52G  BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Sprague,  W.  B.  Annals  of  the  American  Pulpit.  New 
York,  1857-69.    9  vols. 

Biographical  Sketches  in  chronological  order,  contributed  by 
540  writers  of  sectarian  prominence,  and  with  intent  to  show  de- 
velopment of  churches  and  the  power  of  character. 

Vols,  i  and  ii,  Trinitarian-Congregatioualists.  Vols,  iii  and  iv, 
Presbyterian.  Vol.  v,  Episcopalians  (reference  for  the  Episcopal 
Republican  coalition  in  1818  in  Connecticut).  Vol.  vi,  Baptists. 
Vol.  vii,  Methodists.  Vol.  viii,  Unitarians.  Vol.  ix,  Lutherans, 
Dutch  Reformed,  etc. 

Tyler,  Moses  Coit.  Three  Men  of  Letters  (George  Berke- 
ley, Timothy  D wight  and  Joel  Barlow).  New  York 
and.  London,  1895. 


B.  CONNECTICUT  NEWSPAPERS 

w.  abbreviation  for  weekly 

Hartford 
American  Mercury,    w.  Anti-Federal. 

Founded  July  12,  1784,  with  Joel  Barlow,  editor,  and  Elisha 
Babcock,  publisher.  In  1833  merged  into  the  Independent  Press. 

Yale  University  Library  has  a  file  practically  complete  to  1828, 
only  20  numbers  missing. 

Connecticut  Courant.    iv.  Federal,  Whig,  Republican. 

Founded  1764,  by  Thomas  Green  as  organ  of  the  Loyal  Sons  of 
Liberty ;  later  supported  Washington  and  Adams ;  continued  as 
the  weekly  and  now  daily  Hartford  Courant.  Said  to  be  the  old- 
est newspaper  still  published  in  the  United  States. 

Connecticut  Courant  and  the  Weekly  Hartford  Intelli- 
gencer, 1774. 

Connecticut  Courant  and  the  Weekly  Intelligencer,  Feb. 
1781. 

The  latter  part  of  title  dropped  March  21,  1701. 

In  1837  tlu'  Daily  Courant  was  established.  This  paper  bought 
out  the  Independent  Tress  (which  in  turn  had  absorbed  the 
American  Mercury);  and  the  stall'  of  the  Press,  including  Charles 
Dudley  Warner,  Gen.  J.  R.  Hawley  and  Stephen  A.  Hubbard, 
joined  William  II.  Goodrich,  who  was  the  business  manager  of 
the  <  ninaiit. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  527 

Connecticut  Mirror,   w.    Federal. 

Founded  July  10, 1809,  by  Charles  Hosmer,  publisher.  During 
the  War  of  1812,  it  was  the  organ  of  the  "  extreme  right"  of  the 
Federal  party.    It  was  continued  until  about  1835. 

Yale  University  Library  contains  an  almost  complete  file  up  to 
1831. 

Times,  w.  Democratic-Republican. 

Founded  Jan.,  1817,  with  Frederick  D.  Bolles,  publisher,  and 
M.  Niles,  editor.  Its  slogan  was"  Toleration"  and  the  New  Con- 
stitution. 

March  2, 1841,  it  became  the  Daily  Times,  and  still  continues. 

New  Haven 
Columbian  Register,   w.    Democrat. 

Founded  Dec.  1, 1812,  Joseph  Barber,  publisher,  to  give  "  pro- 
ceedings of  Congress,  latest  news  from  Europe  and  history  of 
New  England,  particularly  of  Connecticut."  Daily  edition,  1845  ; 
Sunday  edition,  1877. 

Yale  University  has  a  continuous  file. 
The  Connecticut  Gazette,  w. 

Printed  by  James  Paricer,  April,  1755.  Suspended  April  14, 1764. 
Revived  by  Benjamin  Mecom,  July  5, 1765.    Ended  Feb.  19, 1768. 

Connecticut  Herald.    9b.    Federal,  Republican. 

Founded  1803,  by  Comstock,  Griswold  &  Co.,  publishers,  Thomas 
Green  Woodward,  editor.  A  Daily  Herald,  issued  Nov.  16, 1832. 
In  1835  its  publishers,  Woodward  &  Carrington,  bought  the 
Connecticut  Journal.  The  Daily  Herald  and  Journal  of  1846  soon 
became,  by  buying  out  the  Courier,  The  Morning  Journal  and 
Courier,  as  now,  and  its  weekly  edition,  the  Connecticut 
Herald. 

Yale  University  has  a  continuous  file. 

The  Connecticut  Journal  and  New  Haven  Post  Boy.  w. 
Federal. 

Founded  1767  by  Thomas  and  Samuel  Green.  It  was  started 
about  four  months  before  the  Connecticut  Gazette  (New  Haven). 
It  failed  April  7, 1835,  and  was  sold  to  Woodward  &  Carrington, 
owners  of  the  Daily  Herald. 

The  title  "  and  New  Haven  Post  Boy "  was  omitted  about 
1775.  It  was  known  in  1799,  for  a  few  months  only,  as  the  Con- 
necticut Journal  and  Weekly  Advertiser,  and  in  1809,  for  a  few 
months  only,  as  the  Connecticut  Journal  and  Advertiser. 

Yale's  file  dates  from  1774  to  1835. 

The  New  Haven  Gazette  and  the  Connecticut  Magazine,  w. 
Meigs  &  Dana,  Feb.  16, 1786-1798. 


528  BIBLIOGRAPHY 

New  London 

The  Connecticut  Post  and  New  Haven  Visitor,    w. 

Founded  Oct.  30, 1802,  as  the  Visitor  j  title  changed  Nov.  3, 1803. 
Ended  its  existence  about  Nov.  8, 1834. 

The  New  London  Gazette,  w.  (Connecticut  Gazette.) 

Founded  by  Timothy  Green,  November,  1763.  The  earlier  Con- 
necticut Gazette,  published  at  New  Haven,  April,  1755- April  14, 
17G3,  having  ended  February,  1768,  the  New  London  Gazette 
adopted  the  New  Haven  paper's  name.  The  firm  became  Timothy 
Green  &  Son,  1789-1794.  Samuel  Green  (the  son)  conducted  the 
paper  to  1841,  except  the  year  1805,  and  from  1838  to  1840.  Known 
as  the  Connecticut  and  Universal  Intelligencer,  Dec.  10, 1773-May 
11, 1787. 

Yale  University  files  are  from  1765  to  1828,  except  1775,  >76,  '77, 
and  '78. 

Outside  of  Connecticut 

Niles'  Weekly  Register,   w.   Baltimore,  1811-1849. 

It  was  known  from  1811  to  1814  as  the  Weekly  Register  j  from 
1814  to  August,  1837,  as  Niles'  Weekly  Register,  and  from  1837  to 
1849  as  Niles'  National  Register.  It  devoted  itself  to  the  record 
of  public  events,  essays  and  documents  dealing  with  political, 
historical,  statistical,  economic  and  biographical  matter. 


C  PUBLIC  RECORDS  AND  OTHERS  TOUCH- 
ING UPON   CONNECTICUT   HISTORY 

New  Haven  Colonial  Records,  ed.  by  C.  J.  Hoadly.   2  vols. 

1638-1649;  1653-1664.     Hartford,  1857-58. 
Connecticut,  Colonial  Records  of,  ed.  by  C.  J.  Hoadly 

and   J.    Hammond   Trumbull.     15   vols.      1635-1776. 

Hartford,  1850-90. 
State  of  Connecticut,  Records  of  the,  ed.  by  C.  J.  Hoadly. 

2  vols.  1776-1778  ;  1778-1780.    Hartford,  1894-95. 
United  Colonies  of  New  England,  Records  of  the,  in  vol. 

ii.  of  E.  Hazard's  "  Historical  Collections  consisting  of 

State  Papers  and  other  authentic  Documents,  etc." 
Plymouth  Colony,  Records  of,  ed.  by  N.  R.  Shurtleff  and 

D.  Pulsifer.    12  vols.    Boston,  1855-61. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  529 

Records  of  the  General  Association  of  Connecticut,  June 
20,  1738,  June  19,  1799  ;  Hartford,  1888.    8  vols. 

Minutes  of  Proceedings  of  the  General  Association,  1818,  on. 

Proceedings  of  Connecticut  Missionary  Society,  1801- 
1819. 

Report  of  the  Superintendent  of  Common  Schools  of 
Connecticut,  1853. 

This  annual  report  has  a  detailed  account  of  the  Western  Land 
Bill  appropriations,  pp.  64-108. 

The  Constitutions  of  Connecticut,  with  Notes  and  Statis- 
tics regarding  Town  Representation  in  the  General 
Assembly,  and  Documents  relating  to  the  Constitutional 
Convention  of  1902.  Printed  by  Order  of  the  State 
Comptroller.    Hartford,  1901. 

The  Code  of  1650.  In  Hinman's  "  Antiquities  of  Connecti- 
cut." 

The  Public  Statute  Laws  of  the  State  of  Connecticut. 
Hartford,  1808. 

Acts  and  Laws,  1784-1794.  (Supplements  to  Oct.,  1795, 
laid  in.)     New  London,  1784. 

Acts  and  Laws,  1811-1821. 

D.   HISTORICAL   SOCIETY  PUBLICATIONS 

American  Historical  Association  Annual  Report.   1889- 

1904. 
Connecticut  Historical  Society  Collections.   8  vols. 

Especially  vol.  i,  Extract  from  Hooker's  Sermon.  VoL  ii  Hart- 
ford Church  Papers.  Vol.  iii,  Extract  from  Letter  to  the  Eev 
Thomas  Prince.    Vols,  v  and  vi,  Talcott  Papers. 

Massachusetts  Historical  Society  Collections,  1792-1904. 
64  vols. 

Volumes  containing  the  Mather,  Sewall,  and  Winthrop  Papers 
were  especially  useful. 

Narragansett  Club  Publications.  Providence,  1866.  6 
vols. 

The  Correspondence  of  Roger  Williams  and  John  Cotton  vols 
i  and  ii.  ' 


530  BIBLIOGRAPHY 

New  Haven  Colony  Historical  Society  Papers.    6  vols. 
Rhode  Island  Historical  Society  Collections.  8  vols.  1827- 

92.    Proceedings,  4  vols.,  1871-92,  and  Publications, 

1892,  onwards. 

Manuscripts 

Judge  Church's  MS.  in  New    Haven  Historical  Society 
Library. 
A  sketch  prepared  for  the  historian  Hollister. 

Manuscript  Records   of  the    Newport   Yearly  Meeting, 
deposited  in  the  Friends'  School,  Providence,  R.  I. 

Manuscript  Minutes  of  the  Hartford  North  Association, 
deposited  in  Yale  library. 

Stiles,  Ezra.    Itinerary  and  Memoirs,  1760-1794,  depos- 
ited in  Yale  College. 


E.   DENOMINATIONAL  LITERATURE 

1.   Baptist 

Asplund,  John.  The  Annual  Register  of  the  Baptist  De- 
nomination in  North  America  ...  to  Nov.  1, 1790  ;  con- 
taining an  account  of  the  Churches  and  their  Constitu- 
tions, Ministers,  Members,  Associations,  their  Plan  and 
Sentiments,  Rule  and  Order,  Proceedings  and  Corre- 
spondence.   Worcester,  1791-94. 

Backus,  Isaac.  A  History  of  New  England  with  Particu- 
lar Reference  to  the  Denomination  of  Christians  called 
Baptists.   Newton,  Mass.,  1871.   2  vols. 

This  edition  hy  D.  Weston  includes  Isaac  Backus'  prefaces  to 
vol.  i,  finished  1777;  vol.  ii,  1784;  and  vol.  iii,  1796. 

This  contemporary  writer  is  regarded  as  an  authority,  as  much 
of  his  work  was  founded  upon  the  court,  town,  and  church  records 
and  upon  the  minutes  of  ecclesiastical  councils.  He  searched 
diligently  the  records  of  Plymouth,  Taunton,  Boston,  Essex,  Provi- 
dence, Newport,  Hartford  and  New  Haven.  The  book  has  a 
chronological  record  of  the  Connecticut  churches.  It  is  very  dis- 
cursive. 

Benedict,  David.    A  General  History  of  the  Baptist  De- 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  531 

nomination  in  America  and  other  parts  of  the  world- 
Boston,  1813. 

This  contains  a  more  complete  list  of  the  associations  and 
churches  than  that  given  by  Backus.  There  is  a  valuable  chapter, 
"  Baptist  Communities  who  differ  from  the  main  body  of  the  de- 
nomination and  who  are  also  distinguished  by  some  peculiarities 
of  their  own." 

Burrage,  Henry  S.  A  History  of  the  Baptists  in  New 
England.    Philadelphia,  1894. 

Particularly  useful  in  tracing  the  progress  of  the  denomination 
in  the  different  states,  and  in  its  contribution  to  the  history  of  re- 
ligious liberty. 

Cathcart,  William  (Editor).  The  Baptist  Encyclopedia  : 
A  Dictionary  of  the  Doctrines  ...  of  the  Baptist  De- 
nomination in  all  Lands.    Philadelphia,  1883.   2  vols. 

Curtis,  Thomas  F.  The  Progress  of  Baptist  Principles  in 
the  Last  Hundred  Years.    Boston,  1856. 

Denison,  Frederic.  Notes  of  the  Baptists  and  their  Princi- 
ples in  Norwich.    Norwich,  1859. 

This  contains  the  famous  Separatist  Petition  to  the  King  in  1756. 
Guild,  Reuben  A.     History  of  Brown  University,   with 

Illustrated  Documents.    Providence,  1867. 
Hovey,  Alvah.    A  Memoir  of  the  Life  and  Times  of  the 

Reverend  Isaac  Backus,  A.  M.   Boston,  1858. 
Newman,  Albert  H.  A  History  of  the  Baptist  Churches 

in  the  United  States.    New  York,  1894. 

2.   CONGREGATIONALIST 

A  Confession  of  Faith,  Owned  and  Consented  to  by  the 
Elders  and  Messengers  of  the  Churches  in  the  Colony 
of  Connecticut  in  New  England  Assembled  by  Delegates 
at  Say  brook,  Sept.  9,  1708. 

First  Edition  (first  book  printed  in  Connecticut),  New  London, 
1710. 

Second  Edition,  New  London,  1760,  with  Heads  of  Agreement; 
Edition  of  Hartford,  1831. « 

A  Faithful  Narrative  of  the  Surprising  Work  of  God  in 

a  This  is  the  edition  referred  to  in  text. 


532  BIBLIOGRAPHY 

the  Conversion  of  Many  Hundred  Souls  in  Northamp- 
ton and  the  Neighboring  Towns.  ...  In  a  letter  to  the 
Revd.  Doctor  Benjamin  Colman  of  Boston,  written  by 
the  Revd.  Mr.  Edwards,  Minister  of  Northampton,  on 
Nov.  6,  1736.  London,  1737. 
Autobiography  of  Lyman  Beecher,  D.  D.  New  York, 
1864.   3  vols. 

Especially  valuable  for  the  attitude  of  the  Congregational 
clergy  during  the  first  constitutional  reform  movement  in  Con- 
necticut. 

Bacon,    Leonard.     The    Genesis    of    the    New    England 

Churches.    New  York,  1874. 
Thirteen  Historical  Discourses,  on  completion  of  Two 

Hundred  Years  from  the  beginning  of  the  First  Church, 

New  Haven.    New  Haven,  1839. 
Baldwin,  Simeon  E.    Ecclesiastical  Constitution  of  Yale 

College.    In  New  Haven  Historical  Society's  Papers, 

vol.  iii. 
Contributions  to  the  Ecclesiastical  History  of  Connecticut: 

prepared  under  the  direction  of  the  General  Association, 

to  commemorate  the  completion  of  one  hundred  and 

fifty  years  since  its  first  annual  Assembly.    New  Haven, 

1861. 

See  under  L.  Bacon,  the  history  of  David  Brainerd. 
Barrowe,  Henry.    Answer  to  Mr.  Gifford. 
A  Briefe   Discoverie  of  the   False  Church.     Date, 

1590.    London  ed.  1707. 
> A  True  Description  of  the   Word  of  God,  of  the 

Visible  Church,  1589. 
Briggs,  Charles  Augustus.     American  Presbyterianism  : 

Its  Origin  and  Early  History.    New  York,  1885. 
Browne,  Robert.    An  Answer  to  Master  Cartwright  His 

Letter  for  Joyning  with  the  English  Churches.    London, 

1585. 

A  True  and  Short  Declaration.   Middelburg,  1584. 

A  Treatise  of  Reformation  without  tarrying.     Mid- 
delburg, 1582. 
The  Book  which  Sheweth  the  life  and  manners  of 

all  true  Christians,  and  how  unlike  they  are  unto  Turkes 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  533 

and  Papists  and  Heathen  folk.  Also  the  pointes  and 
partes  of  all  Divinitie  that  is  of  the  revealed  will  and 
words  of  God,  and  declared  by  their  severall  Definitions 
and  Divisions  in  order  as  followeth.  Middelburg, 
1582. 

Browne,  Robert.  "  A  New  Years  Guift  :  "  an  hitherto 
lost  treatise.  (Letter  of  Dec.  31,  1588,  to  his  uncle,  M. 
Flower.)  Edited  by  Champlin  Burrage.    London,  1904. 

Clap,  Thomas.  Religious  Constitution  of  Colleges,  with 
Special  Reference  to  Yale.    New  London,  1754. 

Cotton,  John.  Civil  Magistrates  Power  in  Matters  of  Re- 
ligion.   London,  1655. 

The  Keyes  of  the  Kingdom  of  Heaven  and  Powers 

thereof  according  to  the  Word  of  God.    London,  1644. 

Questions  and  Answers  upon  Church  Government. 

London,  1713. 

Way  of  the  Churches  of  Christ  in  New  England. 

London,  1645. 

Way  of  the  Congregational  Churches  Cleared.  Lon- 
don, 1648. 

Cotton,  John.   In  title,  but  a  misprint  for  :  — 

Davenport,  John.  A  Discourse  about  Civil  Government 
in  a  New  Plantation  whose  design  is  Religion,  written 
many  years  since.    Cambridge,  1643. 

Dexter,  Henry  Martyn.  The  Congregationalism  of  the 
last  Three  Hundred  Years  :  as  seen  in  its  Literature 
with  special  reference  to  certain  Recondite,  Neglected 
or  Disputed  Passages.    New  York,  1880. 

Lectures,  with  Bibliography  of  over  7000  titles  and  Index.  An 
historical  review  of  Congregationalism  from  its  earliest  forms 
to  the  last  naif  of  the  nineteenth  century. 

History  of  Congregationalists.    Hartford,  1894. 

Brief  popular  history. 

Story  of  the  Pilgrims.    Boston  and  Chicago,  1894. 

Dunning,  Albert  E.  Congregationalists  in  America.   New 

York,  1894. 
Dutton,  S.  M.  S.    History  of   the  North  Church,  New 

Haven,  from  its  Formation  in  May  1742,  during  the 


534  BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Great  Awakening,  to  the  Completion  of  the  Century, 
in  May  1842.    New  Haven,  1842. 

Edwards,  Jonathan.  Works  of,  with  Memoir  by  S.  E. 
D wight.    New  York,  1829.    10  vols. 

Fisher,    George    P.      Discourses  .    .   .  Church  of  Christ 
in  Yale  College,   November   22,  1857.     New   Haven, 
1858. 
Frequent  citations  from  the  diaries  of  the  Cleveland  brothers. 

Fitch,  Thomas.  Explanation  of  the  Saybrook  Platform. 
The  Principles  of  the  Consociated  Churches  in  Con- 
necticut ;  Collected  from  the  Plan  of  Union.  By  one 
that  heartily  desires  the  Order,  Peace  and  Purity  of 
these  Churches.    Hartford,  1765. 

Hobart,  Noah.  An  Attempt  to  illustrate  and  confirm  the 
Ecclesiastical  Constitution  of  the  Consociated  Churches 
in  the  Colony  of  Connecticut.    New  Haven,  1765. 

Hooker,  Richard.  Of  the  Laws  of  Ecclesiastical  Polity. 
London,  1648. 

Hooker,  Thomas.  Survey  of  the  Summe  of  Church  Dis- 
cipline.   London,  1648. 

Lechford,  Thomas.    Plaine  Dealing.    London,  1642. 

Letter  of  Many  Ministers  in  Old  England  requesting  the 
Judgment  of  their  Brethren  in  New  England  concern- 
ing Nine  Positions  .  .  .  1637.  .  .  .  Together  with  their 
Answer  thereunto  returned  Anno  1639  (by  J.  Daven- 
port).   London,  1643. 

Mather,  Cotton.  Magnalia  Christi  Americana  ;  or,  The 
Ecclesiastical  History  of  New  England  1620-1698. 
London,  1702.    Hartford,  1855.    2  vols. 

Ratio  Disci plinse  Fratrum  Nov-Anglorum  ;  A  Faith- 
ful Account  of  the  Discipline  Professed  and  Practised 
in  the  Churches  of  New  England.    Boston,  1726. 

Mather,  Richard.  Church  Government  and  Church  Cove- 
nant Discussed.    London,  1643. 

Prince,  Thomas.  The  Christian  History  of  the  Revival 
and  Propagation  of  Religion.    Boston,  1743. 

Purchard,  George.  History  of  Congregationalism  from 
about  250  a.  d.  to  1616.  New  York  and  Boston,  1865- 
1888.   5  vols. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  535 

Walker,  George  Leon.  History  of  the  First  Church  of 
Hartford.   Hartford,  1884. 

Some  Aspects  of  the  Religious  Life  of  New  England 

with  special  reference  to  Congregationalists.  New 
York,  Boston  and  Chicago,  1897- 

Walker,  Williston.  The  Creeds  and  Platforms  of  Con- 
gregationalism.   New  York,  1893. 

■ A  History  of*  the   Congregational  Churches  in  the 

United  States.  (American  Church  History  Series). 
New  York,  1894. 

White,  Daniel  Appleton.  New  England  Congregation- 
alism in  its  Origin  and  Purity:  illustrated '  by  the 
foundation  and  early  records  of  First  Church  in 
Salem.    Salem,  1861. 

Wolcott,  Roger.  A  Letter  to  Rev.  Mr.  Noah  Hobart. 
[The  New  English  Congregational  Churches  .... 
Consociated  Churches.]    Boston,  1761. 

3.   Episcopalian 

Beardsley,  E.  Edwards,  D.  D.  History  of  the  Episcopal 
Church  in  Connecticut.  New  York,  1865-68.  2  vols. 
An  account  of  the  church  in  Connecticut  with  strong  church 
bias  and  inclination  to  excuse  the  Tory  sentiments  of  the  early 
rectors.  Second  volume  gives  the  Episcopal  side  of  the  "  Tolera- 
tion "  conflict  of  1817-18.  Much  interesting  detail. 

Church  Review  and  Ecclesiastical  Register.  In  American 
Quarterly  Church  Review,  vol.  x,  p.  116.  New  Haven 
and  New  York,  1848-91. 

Collections  of  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Historical  So- 
ciety, The.    New  York,  1851-53.    2  vols. 

These  MSS.  are  found  in  Perry  and  Hawks's  Documentary  His- 
tory, and  include  a  valuable  article  on  the  Episcopate  before  the 
Revolution,  by  F.  L.  Hawks,  also  "  Thoughts  upon  the  present 
state  of  the  Church  of  England  in  the  Colonies,"  [1764]  by  an  un- 
known contemporary. 

Cross,  Arthur  Lyon.  The  History  of  the  Anglican  Epis- 
copate and  the  American  Colonies.  New  York  and 
London,  1902. 

Hawkins,  E.    Historical  Notices  of  the  Missions  of  the 


536  BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Church  of  England  in  the  North  American  Colonies. 
London,  1845. 

Chiefly  drawn  from  MS.  documents  of  the  Society  for  the 
Propagation  of  the  Gospel. 

Hawks  (Frances  Lister)  and  Perry  (William  Stevens). 
Documentary  History  of  the  Protestant  Episcopal 
Church  in  the  United  States.  Containing  .  .  .  docu- 
ments concerning  the  Church  in  Connecticut.  New 
York,  1863-64.    2  vols. 

See  Perry,  William  Stevens. 

McConnell,  Samuel  Davis.  History  of  the  American 
Episcopal  Church.   New  York,  1890. 

A  brief  general  history  with  a  number  of  pages  devoted  to  the 
attempts  to  establish  the  Episcopate  in  America  and  to  the  polit- 
ical hostility  that  it  roused. 

Perry,  William  Stevens  (Bishop  of  Iowa).  [See  F.  L. 
Hawks.]  Documentary  History  of  the  Protestant 
Episcopal  Church.    New  York,  1863-64.     2  vols. 

Unbiased;  arranged  under  topical  heads;  has  illustrated 
monographs  by  different  authors;  illustrations,  including  fac- 
similes ;  and  also  critical  notes,  frequently  referring  to  original 
sources.  It  contains  many  letters  from  the  missions  established  by 
the  London  Society  for  the  Propagation  of  the  Gospel  in  Foreign 
Parts. 

Shaw,  W.  A.  A  History  of  the  Church  of  England. 
2  vols. 


4.    Methodist 
Asbury's  (Francis)  Journal.    New  York,  1821.    3  vols. 

A  brief  diary  of  all  Bishop  Asbury's  American  journeys :  Vols, 
ii  and  iii  concern  New  England,  with  comments  on  his  surround- 
ings, his  preaching  and  the  people. 

Bangs,   Nathan.      History  of   the    Methodist  Episcopal 

Church.    New  York,  1841-45.  4  vols. 
Clark,  Edgar  F.     The  Methodist  Episcopal  Churches  of 

Norwich.   Norwich,  1867. 

Convenient  secondary  authority  gives,  pp.  6-21,  a  connected 
account  of  the  early  days  of  Connecticut  Methodism. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  537 

Scudder,  Moses  Lewis.     American   Methodism.     Hart- 
ford, 1870. 

General  attitude  of  New  England  towards  the  introduction  of 
Methodism. 

Stevens,  Abel.   Memorials  of  the  Introduction  of  Metho- 
dism into  the  Eastern  States.    Boston,  1848. 
Biographical  notices  of  the  early  preachers,  sketches  of  the 
earlier  societies,  and  reminiscences  of  struggles  and  successes. 
"  Some  account  of  every  Methodist  preacher  who  was  regularly 
appointed  to  New  England  during  the  first  five  years  "  of  New 
England  Methodism,  derived  from  original  sources,  letters,  and 
from  books  now  out  of  print.  The  fullest  account  of  Connecticut 
Methodists.  It  contains  frequent  citations  from  Jesse  Lee's  diary. 
Appendix  A  contains  valuable  statistics ;  appendix  B  has  a  scur- 
rilous pamphlet,  "  A  Key  to  unlock  Methodism,  or  Academical 
Hubbub,"  etc.,  published  in  Norwich,  1800. 

The  Centenary  of  American  Methodism:  a  Sketch 

of  its  History,  Theology,  Practical  System,  and  Suc- 
cess.  New  York,  1866. 

The   History  of   the   Religious   Movement  of  the 

Eighteenth    Century,    called   Methodism.  New  York, 
1858-61.  3  vols. 

5.  Quakers,  or  the  Society  of  Friends 

Besse,  Joseph.    A  Collection  of  the  Sufferings  of  the  Peo- 
ple called  Quakers,  for  the  Testimony  of  a  Good  Con- 
science, etc.,  to  the  year  1689.    London,  1753.  2  vols. 
Vol.  ii  contains  a  full  account  of  their  persecutions,  together 

with  copies  of  the  proceedings  against  them  and  letters  from  the 

sufferers. 

Bowden,  James.    History  of  the   Society  of  Friends  in 

America.    New  York  and  London,  1845.    2  vols. 

A  history  of  the  sect  throughout  New  England,  containing 
many  short  biographies.  It  is  fair  and  frank  in  its  record  of  New 
England  persecutions.  The  author  adopts  the  unique  plea  that 
the  excesses  of  the  converts  were  inspired  by  the  Holy  Spirit  as 
a  reproof  to  their  persecutors  for  the  kind  of  persecution  and 
punishment  that  was  meted  out  to  innocent  persons. 
Evans,    Charles.    Friends   in  the   Seventeenth  Century. 

Philadelphia,  1876. 
Gough,  John.     History  of   the   People  called  Quakers. 

Dublin,  1789-90.   4  vols. 


538  BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Hallowell,  Richard  Price.    The  Pioneer  Quakers.    Boston 

and  New  York,  1887. 
Manuscript  Records  of  Early  Newport  Yearly  (Friends') 

Meetings  —  at  Friends'  School,  Providence,  R.  I. 

Minutes  of  meetings,  reports  of  cases  of  oppression,  of  converts, 
etc. 

Sewel,  William.  The  History  of  the  Rise,  Increase  and 
Progress  of  the  Christian  People  called  Quakers,  Inter- 
mixed with  Several  Remarkable  Occurrences.  Written 
originally  in  Low  Dutch  by  W.  S.  and  by  himself  trans- 
lated into  English. 

1st  ed.,  Amsterdam,  1717 ;  2d  ed.,  London,  1722 ;  3d  ed.,  1725. 
2  vols.    Philadelphia,  1728,  etc.  New  York,  1844« 

Wagstaff,  William  R.  History  of  the  Friends  (compiled 
from  standard  records  and  authentic  sources).  New 
York  and  London,  1845. 

A  defense  of  the  excesses  in  Quaker  eccentricities  as  reli- 
gious enthusiasm  in  persons  who  were  driven  by  persecution  to 
the  verge  of  madness.  A  similar  view  is  expressed  by  R.  P. 
Hallowell  and  by  Brooks  Adams  in  his  "  Emancipation  of  Massa- 
chusetts." 


F.    TRACTS    (RELIGIOUS,    POLITICAL    OR 
BOTH) 

Of  these,  several  titles  that  are  found  at  full  length  either  in 
the  text  or  footnotes  are  omitted  here.  Many  more  might  have 
been  added,  but  it  is  thought  best  to  omit  them  because  of  their 
cumbrous  titles,  their  scant  interest  to  the  average  reader,  and 
their  inaccessibility,  being  found  only  in  the  largest  libraries 
or  among  rare  Americana.  For  similar  reasons,  works  strictly 
theological  in  character  are  also  not  listed.  Any  sizable  library 
possesses  a  copy  of  H.  M.  Dexter's  "  Congregationalism  as  seen 
in  the  Literature  of  the  last  Three  Hundred  Years."  Its  biblio- 
graphy  of  over  7000  titles  gives  all  the  religious,  ecclesiastical  or 
politico-ecclesiastical  tracts,  and  theological  works  touching  upon 
Congregationalism.  Yale  University  library  has  a  large  amount 
of  the  Americana  collected  by  Mr.  Dexter. 

Trumbull's  list  of  books  published  in  Connecticut  before  1800 
gives  the  titles  of  books  and  pamphlets  of  strictly  local  import. 

«  This  is  the  edition  referred  to  in  text. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  539 

The  Baptist  Confession  of  Faith;  first  put  forth  in  1648; 
afterwards  enlarged,  corrected  and  published  by  an 
Assembly  of  Delegates  (from  the  churches  in  Great 
Britain)  met  in  London,  July  3,  1689;  adopted  by  the 
Association  at  Philadelphia,  September  22,  1742,  and 
now  received  by  churches  of  the  same  denomination  in 
most  of  the  American  States,  to  which  is  added  a  Sys- 
tem of  Church  Discipline.    Portland,  1794. 

Bartlett,  Moses.  False  and  Seducing  Teachers.  New 
London,  1757. 

Beecher,  Lyman.  Sermon.  A  Reformation  of  Morals 
practicable  and  indispensible.  .  .  .  New  Haven,  1813. 
Andover,  1814. 

Bishop,  Abraham.  Connecticut  Republicanism.  An  Ora- 
tion on  ttie  extent  and  power  of  Political  Delusion. 
Delivered  in  New  Haven,  September,  1800. 

Proofs  of  a  Conspiracy  against  Christianity  and  the 

Government  of  the  United  States;  exhibited  in  several 
views  of  the  Church  and  State  in  New  England.  Hart- 
ford, 1802. 

The  Oration  in  honor  of  the  election  of  President 

Jefferson  and  the  peaceful  acquisition  of  Louisiana, 
1801. 

Bishop,  George.  New  England  Judged,  Not  by  Man's, 
but  the  Spirit  of  the  Lord  :  And  the  Summe  sealed  up 

,  of  New  England's  Persecutions.  Being  a  Brief  Relation 
of  the  Sufferings  of  the  People  called  Quakers  in  these 
Parts.    London,  1661. 

Bolles,  John.   Concerning  the  Christian  Sabbath.    1757. 

To  Worship  God  in  Spirit  and  in  Truth  is  True 

Liberty  of  Conscience.    1756. 

A  Relation  of  the  Opposition  which  some  Baptist 

People  met  at  Norwich.    1761. 

Booth,  Abraham.  Essay  on  Kingdom  of  Christ.  London, 
1788.    New  London,  1801.° 

American  edition  edited  by  John  Sterry  of  the  Norwich  "  True 
Kepublican,"  together  with  notes  containing  his  strictures  on  the 
Connecticut  and  English  Established  Church. 

«  This  is  the  edition  referred  to  in  text. 


540  BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Bragge,  Robert.  Church  Discipline.  London,  1739.  Re- 
published, New  London,  1768.° 

"A  Defence  of  simple  Congregationalism  and  disestablish- 
ment." 

Browne,  Joseph.  Principles  of  Baptism.  A  Letter  to 
Infant  Baptisers  in  the  North  Parish  of  New  London. 
New  London,  1767. 

Quoted  by  Rev.  E.  H.  Gillett,  Hist.  Mag.  2d  series,  vol.  iv,  p.  28. 

Browne,  Robert.  A  Treatise  of  reformation  without 
tarrying  for  Magistrates  and  of  the  wickednesse  of 
those  Preachers  which  will  not  reforme  till  the  Magis- 
trates commande  or  compell  them.  Middelburg,  1582. 
Only  three  copies  known.  Reprint  at  Boston  and 
London. 

Chauncy,  Charles,  Rev.  Seasonable  Thoughts.  Boston, 
1743. 

Treats  of  tbe  Great  Awakening,  of  which  the  author  was  a 
determined  opponent. 

Clap,  Thomas.  Brief  History  and  Vindication  of  the 
Doctrines  received  and  established  in  the  Churches  of 
New  England.    New  Haven,  1755. 

Daggett,  David.  Argument,  before  the  General  Assembly 
of  Connecticut,  Oct.  1804,  in  the  case  of  Certain  Jus- 
tices of  the  Peace.  .  .  .  New  Haven,  1804. 

Count   the    Cost.    An    Address   to    the    People    of 

Connecticut.  .  ,  .  By  Jonathan  Steadfast.  Hartford, 
1804. 

Facts  are  Stubborn  Things,  or  Nine  Plain  Questions 

to  the  People  of  Connecticut.  By  Simon  Holdfast. 
Hartford,  1803. 

Steady  Habits  Vindicated.    Hartford,  1805. 

Sun-Beams  may  be  extracted  from  Cucumbers,  but 

the  process  is  tedious.  An  Oration,  pronounced  4  July, 
1799 New  Haven,  1799. 

Darling,  Thomas.  Some  Remarks  on  President  Clap's 
"History  and  Vindication."    New  Haven,  1757. 

a  This  is  the  edition  referred  to  in  text. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  541 

Foster,  Isaac.  Defence  of  Religious  Liberty.  Worcester, 
1779. 

Frotbingham,  Ebenezer.  A  Key  to  unlock  the  Door,  That 
leads  in,  to  take  a  Fair  View  of  the  Religious  Constitu- 
tion, Established  by  Law,  in  the  Colony  of  Connecticut 
.  .  .  with  a  short  Observation  upon  the  Explanation  of 
Saybrook  Plan,  etc.  and  Mr.  Hobart's  attempt  etc.  Re- 
viewing R.  Ross,  Plain  Address.    Boston,  1767. 

Hobart,  Noah.  An  Attempt  to  Illustrate  and  Confirm  the 
Ecclesiastical  Covenant  of  the  Connecticut  Churches, 
—  occasioned  by  a  late  Explanation  of  the  Saybrook 
Platform.    New  Haven,  1765. 

Holly,  Israel.  A  Plea  in  Zion's  Behalf  :  The  Censured 
Memorial  made  Public  ...  to  which  is  added  a  few 
Brief  Remarks  upon  ...  an  Act  for  Exempting  .  .  . 
Separatists  from  Taxes,  etc.    1765. 

Quoted  by  Eev.  E.  H.  Gillett,  Hist.  Mag.,  2d  series,  vol.  iv. 

Huntington,  R.  (Editor).  Review  of  the  Ecclesiastical 
Establishments  of  Europe  (by  William  Graham). 
1808. 

Special  reference  to  the  bearing  of  the  book  on  the  Connecticut 
Establishment,  and  particularly  upon  its  Parish  System. 

Judd,  William.  Address  to  the  People  of  the  State  of 
Connecticut,  on  the  removal  of  himself  and  four  other 
Justices  from  Office.  .  .  .  New  Haven,  1804. 

Leland,  John.  A  Blow  at  the  Root.  Being  a  fashionable 
Fast-Day  Sermon.    New  London,  1801. 

The    Connecticut    Dissenters'   Strong  Box :    No.  I. 

Containing,  The  High-flying  Churchman  stript  of  his 
legal  Robe  appears  a  Yaho.    New  London,  1802. 

Van  Tromp  lowering   his  Peak  with  a  Broadside: 

Containing  a  plea  for  the  Baptists  of  Connecticut.  Dan- 
bury,  1803. 

The  Rights   of   Conscience   inalienable ;    .    .   .   Or, 

The  high-flying  Churchman,  stript  of  his  legal  Robe, 
appears  a  Yaho. 

See  The  Connecticut  Dissenters'  Strong  Box. 


542  BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Martin-Mar-Prelate  Tracts.  See  H.  M.  Dexter's  Con- 
gregationalism as  seen  in  Literature,  Lecture  iii,  pp. 
131-205. 

Norton,  John.  The  Heart  of  New  England  rent  at  the 
Blasphemies  of  the  Present  Generation.  Or  a  brief 
Tractate  concerning  the  Doctrine  of  the  Quakers  etc. 
Cambridge,  New  England,  1659. 

Paine,  Solomon.  A  Short  View  of  the  Difference  between 
the  Church  of  Christ,  and  the  established  Churches  in 
the  Colony  of  Connecticut  in  their  Foundation  and 
Practice  with  their  Ends:  being  a  Word  of  Warning  to 
several  Ranks  of  Profession  ;  and  likewise  Comfort  to 
the  Ministers  and  Members  of  the  Church  of  Christ. 
1752. 

Richards,  George  H.  The  Politics  of  Connecticut ;  by  a 
Federal  Republican.    New  London,  1817. 

Rogers,  John.  A  Midnight  Cry  from  the  Temple  of  God 
to  the  Ten  Virgins.  See  F.  M.  Caulkins'  History  of 
New  London,  pp.  202-221. 

John  Rogers,  A  Servant  of  Jesus  Christ  .  .  .  giving 

a  Description  of  True  Shepherds  of  Christ's  Flocks  and 
also  of  the  Anti-Christian  Ministry.  4th  ed.  Norwich, 
1776. 

New  London  Prison. 

See  F.  H.  Gillett,  Hist.  Mag.,  2d  series,  vol.  iv. 

Ross,  Robert.  Plain  Address  to  the  Quakers,  Moravians, 
Separatists,  Separate  Baptists,  Rogerines,  and  other 
Enthusiasts  on  Immediate  Impulses  and  Revelations, 
etc.    New  Haven,  1752. 

Stiles,  Ezra.  A  Discourse  on  Christian  Union.  (Appen- 
dix containing  a  list  of  New  England  Churches,  a.  d. 
1760.)    Boston,  1761. 

Stoddard,  Solomon.  The  Doctrine  of  Instituted  Churches 
Explained  and  Proved  from  the  Word  of  God.    1700. 

Webster,   Noah.     A   Rod    for   the    Fool's   Back.     New 
Haven,  1800. 
Being  a  reply  to  Abraham  Bishop. 

Williams,  Nathan.    An  Inquiry  Concerning  the  Design 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  543 

and  Importance  of  Christian  Baptism  and  Discipline. 
Hartford,  1792. 
Wolcott,  Roger.  The  New-English  Congregational 
Churches  are  and  always  have  been  Consociated 
Churches,  and  their  Liberties  greater  and  better 
founded,  in  their  Platform  of  Church  Discipline  agreed 
to  at  Cambridge,  1648,  than  what  is  contained  at  Say- 
brook,  1705,  etc.    Boston,  1761. 


INDEX 


Abbot,  George,  Archbishop,  27,  42. 
Act  for  the  Support  of  Literature 

and  Religion,  4G7-471. 
Act  to  secure  equal  rights,  powers, 

and  privileges,  479. 
Acts  of  Supremacy  and  Uniformity, 

22. 
Agreement,  Heads  of.  See  Heads  of 

Agreement. 
Albany  Convention  of  1862,  367. 
American  Board  of   Foreign    Mis- 
sions, first  auxiliary  of,  462. 
American  Episcopate,  175-178;   192- 

200  ;  311-318. 
American  Philosophical  Society,322. 
Anabaptists,  72. 
Anti-Federal  Party,  371,  393,   394, 

397,  408  ;  birth  of,  355-357. 
Antinomian  schism,  71. 
Arianism,  301,  304,  369,  409. 
Arminianism,  302,  303,  409. 
Asbury,  Francis,  Bishop,  358,  359. 
Ashurst,  Sir  Henry,  182-185. 
Associations,  in  Massachusetts,  133; 

in    Connecticut,    142;    Hartford, 

North,  150 ;  of  Windham,  264 ;  of 

Middletown,  269. 
Awakening,     Great.       See     Great 

Awakening. 

Backus,  Rev.  Isaac,  278,  329,  331, 
333. 

Bancroft,  Richard,  Archbishop,  27. 

Baptists,  157-159,  239,  263,  270,  276, 
291,  292,  299,  319,  320,  327-330, 
336,  358,  360,  365,  371,  380,  383, 
386,  387,  405,  407,  410,  411,  415, 
425,  429,  467,  468,  469,  471,  4S7 ; 
exemption  from  rates,  217;  perse- 
cution of,  278  ;  petition  of,  426- 
428. 

Barlow,  Joel,  323. 

Barrowe,  Henry,  a  London  lawyer, 
10 ;  connection  with  Henry  Green- 
wood, 11  ;  his  theories  of  church 
polity  compared  with  Browne's, 
14-20;  spread  of  Barrowism,  20, 
48,  98,  120,  365. 

Barrowism.   See  Barrowe,  Henry. 

Bartlett,  Rev.  Moses,  287. 


Beach,  Rev.  John,  315. 

Beecher,  Rev.  Lyman,  438-440,  446, 
461,  462. 

Bellamy,  Rev.  Joseph,  229,  241,  303, 
304,  305,  306,  307,  361,  409,  410. 

Bishop,  Abraham,  418-426,  431,  435; 
"  Extent  and  Power  of  Political 
Delusions,"  420;  "Proofs  of  a 
Conspiracy,"  423,425;  Connecti- 
cut Republicanism,  424,  425 ; 
"  Oration  in  Honor  .  .  .  of  Jeffer- 
son," 430,  431. 

Bishop,  Samuel,  418,  419,  422,  423. 

Bishop's  Fund,  405,  417,  443,  471. 

Bishops  in  America.  See  Episcopate. 

Boardman,  Edward,  463. 

Bolles,  Rev.  Augustus,  470. 

Bolles,  John,  162,  290. 

Boroughs,  rotten,  397. 

Boston,  church  of,  55,  68. 

Bradford,  Gov.  William,  51. 

Bragge,  Robert,  "  Church  Disci- 
pline," 297. 

Brainerd,  Rev.  David,  246,  256,  264. 

Branford,  church  of,  264. 

Bray,  Rev.  Thomas,  his  "  Memorial," 
176. 

Brewster,  Elder  William,  48. 

Briant,  Rev.  Lemuel,  306. 

Bright,  Rev.  Francis,  52. 

Brown,  Rev.  Daniel,  195,  196. 

Brown,  Rev.  Joseph,  "  Letter  to  the 
Infant  Baptizers,"  297,  298. 

Browne,  Robert,  pivotal  dogmas,  3; 
precursors  of,  3-8;  life,  8-10; 
church  at  Norwich,  8;  its  migra- 
tion to  Zealand,  9 ;  preaching  at 
Cambridge,  12;  his  theories  of 
church  polity  compared  with  those 
of  Barrowe,  13-20  ;  Brownism,  119, 
365. 

Brownism.    See  Browne,  Robert. 

"Brownists,"  derisively  applied  to 
Plymouth  settlers,  48. 

Bulkley,  John,  275. 

Burr,  Aaron,  409,  417,  418. 

Calvin,  5. 

Calvinism,  in  England,  6,  7,  35 ;  in 
the  Great  Awakening,  237,  238. 


54G 


INDEX 


Calvinistic  theory  of  eldership  in 
Barrowisin,  17. 

Cambridge  Platform,  76-121,  154, 
224,  270,  333,  365  ;  application  of, 
99  et  seq.  ;  departure  from,  126. 

Cambridge  Synod,  81,  87,  8(J-«J7. 

Canterbury  church,  248,  253-255, 
258-260,  277,  365. 

Cartwright,  Thomas,  6 ;  his  eccle- 
siastical polity,  7,  33  ;  indifferent 
toBarrowism,  18;  extends  his  own 
reforms  in  Warwickshire  and 
Northamptonshire,  18,  23,  24. 

Certificate  Laws,  367,  479;  discus- 
sion of,  368-392. 

Chandler,  Rev.  Thomas  Bradbury, 
320. 

Charles  I,  succeeds  James  I,  44  ;  his 
misrule,  45  ;  appoints  Laud  to  the 
bishopric  of  London,  51. 

Charter  of  1662,  394,  395. 

Chaimcy,  Rev.  Charles,  107,  237, 
317,  320. 

Cheshire  Academy,  charter  for,  417, 
437. 

Church,  nature  of  a  Congrega- 
tional church  denned  by  Browne 
and  Barrowe,  13-20 ;  its  organiza- 
tion, and  officers,  13-20  ;  its  mem- 
bership, 13-16 ;  officers  of,  in 
New  England,  56  ;  relation  of,  to 
civil  government,  60-70;  summary 
of  church  organization,  91-97 ; 
dual  membership  in,  105 ;  the 
Great  Schism,  233-273. 

Churchmen  in  Connecticut.  See 
Episcopalians. 

Clap,  Pres.  Thomas,  280,  281,  282, 
289. 

Clark,  Rev.  Peter,  304. 

Cleaveland,  John  and  Ebenezer,  257, 
258. 

Clergy,  colonial,  308-310,  439;  in 
the  war  of  1812,  462,  463. 

Coggeshall,  Rev.  James,  259. 

College  Church,  280,  281. 

Collins,  Rev.  Nathaniel,  261. 

Colman,  Rev.  Benjamin,  229. 

Confederacy  of  United  Colonies,  87. 

Confession,  Westminster.  See  West- 
minster Confession. 

Congregational,  usage  of  the  word, 
2, 150, 336 ;  church  and  ecclesiasti- 
cal society,  119. 

Congregationalism  of  colonists  of 
Connecticut,  New  Haven,  Mas- 
sachusetts and  Plymouth,  1 ;  early, 
2,  3 ;  Brownism  and  Barrowism, 
13-20  ;  Dr.  Dexter's  definition  of, 
2, :'. ;  religious  movements  preced- 
ing Brownism,  4-8;  sketch  of 
Browne's  life  and  work,  8-10;  of 


Greenwood  and  Barrowe,  10-13  ; 
Brownism  in  modern,  20 ;  spread 
of  Barrowism,  20-22 ;  London 
church  exiled  to  Holland,  21  ;  pol- 
icy of  Elizabeth  toward  non-con- 
formists, 22,  25,  27  ;  of  James  I, 
28 ;  exile  of  the  Gainsborough 
Church,  29;  emigration  of  the 
Scrooby  church  to  America,  39 ; 
fundamental  principle  of,  54  ;  be- 
ginning of,  in  New  England,  54; 
break  with  English  Episcopacy, 
54  ;  theory  of,  64  ;  deflection  from, 
64  ;  synods  of,  72  ;  review  of  Co- 
lonial, 97  ;  church  and  society  in, 
119. 

Congregationalist  and  Separatist, 
239. 

Connecticut,  churches  in,  62  ;  con- 
trol of  churches  by  General  Court, 
74  ;  Half- Way  Covenant,  102, 107, 
108,109;  Establishment,  116,  147, 
151, 155, 156,  160,  167,  236  et  seq. ; 
absorption  of  New  Haven  Colony, 
109  ;  politics,  109 ;  toleration,  first 
extended,  116,  117  ;  loss  of  inter- 
est in  religious  questions,  123-125 ; 
approves  Reforming  Synod,  127; 
deterioration  of  the  churches,  128- 
130,  132  ;  narrowing  of  franchise, 
130-132;  "Proposals  of  1705," 
133-135 ;  Governor  Saltonstall  and 
the  churches,  135,  136  ;  Saybrook 
Synod,  136, 137  ;  terms  of  the  Say- 
brook  Platform,  138-147  ;  adop- 
tion of  Saybrook  Platform,  147  ; 
Toleration  Act  for  Sober  Dissent- 
ers, 147,  157  ;  church  polity  in 
18th  century,  150-152;  proviso  of 
Saybrook  Platform,  154-156,  233  ; 
early  Quakers  in,  164-171  ;  loss  of 
ro3'al  favor  after  1688,  173  ;  pros- 
perity of  the  colony,  173;  paper 
currency  in,  173,  225  ;  population 
of,  173 ;  complaints  against,  181- 
185,  209,  214  (see  Mohegan  In- 
dians, also  Hallam  Case)  ;  danger 
to  charter,  186;  fear  of  Episco- 
pacy, 195  ;  exemption  of  Episco- 
palians from  ecclesiastical  taxes, 
200;  exemption  of  Baptists,  217; 
exemption  of  Quakers,  216  ;  laws 
against  the  Bogerines,  2(>4,  205; 
boundary  disputes,  206  ;  royal  dis- 
favor, 207  el  seq.  ;  Intestate  Act, 
207-214,  314  ;  financial  depression 
in,  225  ;  Act  of  1717,  225  ;  Great 
Awakening,  222-232.  270,  271  ;  the 
great  schism,  233  et  seq.  ;  eccle- 
siastical laws  of  1742-43,  242-245, 
262,  263,  265,  269  ;  Canterbury 
Church,  248,    253-255,    258-260; 


INDEX 


547 


Enfield  Church,  2G1,  262;  New 
Haven  Church,  218-253;  law  of 
1746,  267-268  ;  revision  of  laws  of 
1750,  273,  275, 338  ;  English  influ- 
ence on  ecclesiastical  legislation, 
275-278;  newspapers,  300,  35l>; 
denial  of  the  Trinity,  a  felony, 
305  ;  remonstrance  against  British 
taxation,  324,  325,  327  ;  ecclesias- 
tical laws  of  1770,  327,  328  ;  Act 
exempting  Separates,  333,  334  ; 
Laws  and  Acts  of  the  State  of 
Connecticut,  338,  353-354  ;  town 
development,  342-344 ;  Western 
Reserve  of,  343 ;  condition  after 
Revolution,  342-367  ;  commerce, 
344-350;  schools,  346-349;  first 
law  school,  348,  349;  intelligence 
of  people,  350 ;  newspaper  circula- 
tion, 351, 352  ;  state  politics,  1783- 
1787,  355  et  seq.  ;  General  Asso- 
ciation of,  360;  Missions  of,  361, 
386,  387  ;  Certificate  Laws  and 
Western  Land  Bills,  368-392  ;  form 
of  dissenter's  certificate,  372-374, 
378  ;  annual  state  expenses,  384  ; 
School  Fund  of,  390,  392  ;  Land 
Company,  391 ;  rotten  boroughs, 
397  ;  bill  for  decreasing  town  re- 
presentation, 397-399  ;  in  the  war 
of  1812,  446-461;  direct  taxes  in 
1813,  452;  manufactures,  459, 
460,  473 ;  Act  for  the  Support  of 
Literature  and  Religion,  467-471 ; 
economic  conditions,  473,  475 ; 
taxes,  473,  474;  summary  of  the 
Constitution  of,  476-478  ;  suffrage, 
478 ;  Act  to  secure  equal  rights, 
powers,  and  privileges,  479  ;  Con- 
stitutional Convention  of  1818, 
481-492  ;  Constitutional  Conven- 
tion of  1902,  see  note  218,  p.  492. 
,  Connecticut  Establishment,  74, 114, 
136,  137,  138-153,  155,  157,  160, 
188,  202,  217,  220,  233,  267,  283, 
299,  364,  370,  377,  392. 

Comiecticut  Missionary  Society,  414. 

Consociation,  143,  146 ;  of  New 
Haven,  264,  269,  278  ;  of  Fairfield 
(East),  264;  of  Windham,  264, 
268,  337. 

Consociation,  General,  meets  at 
Guilford,  240 ;  measures  of, 
against  the  Separatists,  240,  241, 
249. 

Constitution  and  Reform  Ticket, 
480. 

Constitutional  Reform,  393,  405, 428, 
429,  472-496,  note  218. 

Constitution  of  1818,  vote  upon,  492  ; 
reception  of,  492,  493  ;  changes 
by,  493-496. 


Constitutional  convention,  481-492 ; 
preliminaries  to,  481-484;  strength 
of  parties  in,  484 ;  prominent 
members,  485,  486 ;  method  of 
procedure,  486;  Bill  of  Rights, 
487,  488  ;  Article  of  Religion,  4S9- 
492. 

Constitutional  questions,  397-399, 
403-405. 

Convention  at  Albany.  See  Plan  of 
Union. 

Cotton,  Rev.  John,  46,  106  ;  on  de- 
mocracy, 61 ;  on  church  govern- 
ment, 65,  66. 

Council,  Governor's,  395 ;  Upper 
House,  395,  396 ;  grievances 
against,  402. 

Court  of  Election,  400. 

Covenant,  church,  15,  53,  54. 

Cutler,' Rev.  Timothy,  195-197. 

Daggett,  David  (Connecticutensis), 
424,  427,  435,  436;  "Facts  are 
Stubborn  Things,"  426  ;  "  Count 
the  Cost,"  432. 

Dana,  Rev.  James,  278. 

Darling,  Thomas,  289,  290. 

Davenport,  Mr.  James,  of  Stamford, 
398. 

Davenport,  Rev.  James,  230,  242, 
263. 

Davenport,  Rev.  John,  on  civil  gov- 
ernment, 65 ;  leader  of  the  New 
Haven  colony,  77 ;  quoted,  25  ; 
letter,  103. 

Deacon.    See  under  Church. 

Deaconess,  or  widow.  See  under 
Church. 

Democratic  Republican  party,  394, 
405,  407-409,  415,  416,  426,  427, 
428,  432,  433,  436,  437,  444  ;  or- 
ganization of,  417;  General  Com- 
mittee of,  431.  See  also  Republi- 
can Party. 

Dexter,  Henry  Martyn,  his  defini- 
tion of  Congregationalism,  2. 

Disestablishment,  405,  445-497.  See 
also  Leland,  Rev.  John. 

Dissenters,  Committee  of  English, 
276  et  seq.,  279,  319;  certificate 
of,  372-374,  378,  392.  See  also 
Baptists,  Episcopalians,  Metho- 
dists, Quakers,  Rogerines,  Separa- 
tists. 

Domestic  Missionary  Society  for 
building  up  of  waste  places,  462. 

Dorchester,  church  of,  55,  68. 

Drake,  Deacon  Nathaniel,  Jr.,  278. 

Dual  membership,  105,  118. 

Dwight,  Theodore,  417,  418,  424, 
435,  438,  453. 


548 


INDEX 


Dwight,  Pres.  Timothy,  307,  308, 
323,  411-413,  417,  418,  435,  437, 
401,  462. 

Ecclesiastical  Commission,  26,  27. 

Ecclesiastical  Establishments  of  Eu- 
rope, review  of,  429. 

Edwardeanism,  365. 

Edwards,  Rev.  Jonathan,  241,  270, 
358 ;  on  church  membership, 
quoted,  223;  sermons,  226,  227; 
"  Narrative  of  the  surprising  Work 
of  God,"  228;  as  an  itinerant, 
229;  teachings  of,  236,  302,  306; 
favors  the  Great  Awakening,  245, 
247 ;  resigns  his  pastorate,  247  ; 
his  writings,  302-304. 

Edwards,  Rev.  Jonathan,  Jr.,  307, 
411,  417. 

Edwards,  Pierpont,  417,  427,  431, 
434,  474. 

Elders.    See  under  Church. 

Elders,  Ruling.    See  under  Church. 

Election,  of  Assistants,  Councilors, 
Magistrates,  or  Senators,  399-102; 
national,  1797,  415;  state,  1800, 
416,  418,  423  ;  state,  1804-06,  394, 
430, 436:  of  1814, 463;  of  1816,  463- 
467;  of  1817,  471 ;  of  1818,  480. 

Elizabeth,  Queen,  policy  of,  22,  23, 
25,  26. 

Elliott,  Rev.  Jared,  322. 

Ellis,  Rev.  Jared,  195. 

Embargo  of  1807,  446,  447;  of  1812, 
448. 

Emmons,  Rev.  Nathaniel,  307,  308, 
365,  366. 

Endicott,  Gov.  John,  47,  48,  62. 

Enfield,  church  of.  See  Separate 
church  of  Enfield. 

England,  Puritan,  35-38. 

English  Presbytery,  first,  19. 

English  Reformation,  4,  5-7,  22- 
28,35. 

Episcopacy,  conversion  of  Pres.  Cut- 
ler, 195-197;  fear  of,  in  Con- 
necticut, 195 ;  low  ebb  of,  358. 

Episcopal  Church,  American,  found- 
ing of,  354. 

Episcopalians,  157,  239,  271,  281, 
299,  327,  405,  406,  410,  417,  436, 
437,  441,  445,  466,  467,  468,  471, 
487  ;  in  Stratford,  112  ;  complaints 
of,  against  Connecticut,  171, 172; 
missionary  priests,  174;  clergy  in 
New  Eugland  to  1680,  174  ;  per- 
secution of,  191, 192;  of  Fairfield, 
200  ;  authority  of  the  Bishop  of 
London,  200 ;  exemption  from 
ecclesiastical  taxes,  200;  illegal 
treatment  of,  201-203 ;  contro- 
versy over  ordination,  315;  Amer- 


ican Episcopate,  175-178, 192-200, 

311-318;      convention    of,    318; 

Fasts  and  Thanksgivings,  378:  in 

politics,  405,  417,  437,441^44. 
Episcopate,  American,  310-317,  320, 

321  ;     early  attempts    to    found, 

176,  177,  192,  193. 
Era  of  Good  Feeling,  461. 
Establishment,   Congregational,    in 

Connecticut.      See     Connecticut 

Establishment. 
"  Extent    and    Power    of   Political 

Delusions  (The),"  420. 

Fast  Day,  annual,  on  Good  Friday, 

406. 
Fasts  and  thanksgivings,  378,  406. 
Federal  party,  355,  357,   372,   405, 

410,  411,  416,  427,  428,  433,  436, 

437,  444,  445,  446,  449,  450,  453, 

454,  457,  461,  463,  464,  470,  475, 

478,  479,  489. 
Federalists,  New  England,  opposi' 

tion  to  War  of  1812,  452. 
Fine,    for    absence    from  worship, 

468. 
Finley,  Rev.  Samuel,  241,  262. 
"  Fire  Lands,"  381. 
Fitch,  Gov.  Thomas,  275,  336. 
Foster,  Rev.  Dan,  337. 
Foster,  Rev.  Isaac,  337. 
Franchise,  in  Connecticut,   61,  62, 

131,  132,431,478,493. 
French  Revolution,  408,  409,  410. 
Freneau,  Philip,  323. 
Friends,  Society  of.     See  Quakers. 
Frothingham,  Rev.  Ebenezer,  283  ; 

citations  from,  283-297. 
Fuller,    Dr.    Samuel,    visit    of,  .to 

Salem,  47,  48-50. 
Fundamental    Orders    (The),    394, 

395,  399,  404. 

Garden,  Alexander,  Episcopal  Com- 
missary in  Carolina,  226. 

General  Association  of  Connecticut, 
360,  386,  387,  414. 

General  Court  (The),  394,  396,  400. 

Gibson,  Edmund,  Bishop,  198,  199, 
200,  313,  314. 

Gihnan,  Bishop,  letter  to  Dr.  Col- 
man,  314. 

Goddard,  Calvin,  454,  406. 

Good  Friday  as  annual  Fast  Day, 
406. 

Goodrich,  Chauncey,  453. 

Goodrich,  Elizur,  displacement  of, 
A'l'l. 

Goodwin,  Elder  William,  100,  101, 
110. 

Granger,  Gideon,  427. 

Great  Awakening,  220-232,  233, 234, 


INDEX 


549 


237,  239,  2-40,  241,  253,  413;  effect 

of,  270,  272. 
Greenwood,  Henry,  connection  with 

Henry  Barrowe,   10-12;    teacher 

in  the  London  church,  21. 
Griswold,   Gov.    Roger,    440,    450- 

452. 

Half-Way  Covenant,  78,  81,  154, 
236,  247,  254,  303,  305,  362  ;  terms 
of,  102  ;  contradictory  to  Congre- 
gationalism, 105,  106;  dual  mem- 
bership of,  106  ;  reception  of,  107, 
108,109,112,113,114;  admissions 
mider,  128,  129 ;  laxity  of,  223, 
224 ;  abrogated,  271. 

Hallam  Case,  184,  185. 

Hart,  Rev.  William,  195. 

Hartford  Church,  schism  in,  99-102, 
107,  114  ;  Pitkin's  appeal,  114  ; 
divides,  118. 

Hartford  Convention,  445,  453-458. 

Hartford,  North  Association,  on 
polity  of  Connecticut  churches, 
150  ;  on  the  Half- Way  Covenant, 
223. 

Hartford,  Second  Church  of,  118. 

"  Hartford  Wits,"  323. 

Heads  of  Agreement,  124,  126,  137; 
discussion  of,  138-141. 

Heathcote,  Colonel  Caleb,  178,  179, 
186. 

Higginson,  Rev.  Francis,  52,  53. 

Hillhouse,  James,  454. 

Hobart,  Rev.  Noah,  315. 

Holly,  Israel,  291,  292,  320,  334,  335. 

Home  Missionary  Society,  462. 

Hooker,  Rev.  Asahel,  438. 

Hooker,  Richard,  ecclesiastical  pol- 
ity of,  24,  25. 

Hooker,  Rev.  Thomas,  62,  77,  88, 
99. 

Hooper,  John,  Bishop,  refusal  of 
Romish  vestments,  5. 

Hopkins,  Rev.  Samuel,  306-308,  363. 

Hough,  Atherton,  46. 

Hutchinson,  Mrs.  Anne,  71. 

Independent,  usage  of  the  word,  2. 
Ingersoll,  Jared,  325,  326. 
Ingersoll,  Jonathan,  401,  464,  465, 
466,  472. 

James  I,  attitude  of,  towards  Non- 
conformists, 28,  36,  37,  39;  con- 
test with  Puritan  party,  41-44. 

Jefferson,  Thomas,  394, 407, 415,  416, 
419,  422,  430,  447 ;  party  of,  394, 
407. 

Johnson,  Rev.  Francis,  pastor  of 
London-Amsterdam  church,  21, 
29,  33. 


Johnson,  Rev.  Samuel,  195,  315, 318, 

320. 
Judd,    Major    William,    432,    433- 

435. 

Keith,  George,  missionary  priest, 
174,  177. 

Laud,  William,  Archbishop,  27,  49, 
50,  51,  82,  175. 

Law,  Gov.  Jonathan,  policy  toward 
schismatics,  242. 

Law  courts,  character  of,  403. 

Leland,  Rev.  John,  374-376,  393, 
401,  423,  429;  "Rights  of  Con- 
science," 374-376 ;  speech  at 
Hartford,  387-389  ;  "  Van  Tromp 
lowering  his  Peak,"  etc.,  429. 

Leverett,  Thomas,  46. 

Lewis,  Rev.  John,  361,  362. 

Liberal  Theology,  302,  306. 

Licensure,  ministerial,  142,  269. 

Litchfield  County  Foreign  Mission 
Society,  462. 

Liturgy,  reform  of  English,  23. 

Liveen  Case,  see  Hallam  Case. 

London-Amsterdam  church,  20,  21, 
28,  29-31 ;  number  of  communi- 
cants, 21. 

Lung,  Peter,  case  of,  475-477. 

Luther,  5. 

Madison,  Pres.  James,  447. 

Magistrates,  New  England  view  of, 
60. 

Manufactures  in  Connecticut,  459, 
460,  473. 

Massachusetts,  colonists  of,  1,  58; 
freemen  of,  65 ;  control  of 
churches,  66-70  ;  controversy  with 
Roger  Williams,  69,  70;  Antino- 
mian  controversy,  71 ;  Synod  of 
1637,  71 ;  Body  of  Liberties,  72 ; 
platform  of  church  discipline,  69, 
70  ;  Presbyterian  cabal,  87  ;  Cam- 
bridge Synod,  87,  90 ;  Ministerial 
Convention  of  1657,  102;  Half- 
Way  Covenant,  102,  108  ;  Synod 
of  1662,  108 ;  "  Proposals  of  1705," 
133-135,  332  ;  in  Hartford  Con- 
vention, 453. 

Mather,  Rev.  Cotton,  106,  130. 

Mather,  Rev.  Richard,  1,  106. 

Mayhew,  Rev.  Jonathan,  305,  306, 
307,  310,  315,  316,  321. 

Methodism,  358. 

Methodists,  358,  369,  405,  407,  410, 
411,  415,  467,  468,  469,  470,  471, 
487,  495. 

Milford,  First  Separate  church  of, 
277. 

Millenary  Petition,  28,  37. 


550 


INDEX 


Ministerial  Convention  of  1657, 106  ; 

questions  left  unanswered,  115. 
Missions,  386,  387,  414. 
Mohegan  Indians,  183. 
Moravian  missionaries,  265-267. 
Morse,  Rev.  Asahel,  487. 
Muirson,  Rector  George,  178,  179. 

Navigation  laws,  324. 

Neuters,  definition  of,  377. 

New  Divinity,  302,  307. 

New  England  churches,  character 
of,  57. 

New  England  Confederacy.  See 
Confederacy  of  United  Colonies. 

-New  England  Way"  (The),  83, 
85. 

New  Haven  Church,  New  Light 
schism,  248-253. 

New  Haven  Colony,  churches  in, 
73 ;  opposition  to  ecclesiastical 
changes,  103;  to  the  Half- Way 
Covenant,  107  ;  absorption  by 
Connecticut,  109 ;  Quakers  in, 
165. 

New  Haven  Convention  [Rep.], 
433. 

New  Lights,  238,  239,  264,  270,  271, 
274,  280,  281,  282,  336,  425;  in 
New  Haven  church,  248-253 ;  in 
the  Canterbury  church,  253-255, 
258-260;  in  the  Enfield  church, 
262. 

Newspapers,  300,  301,  326,  351,  352. 

Norton,  Rev.  John,  106. 

Norwich,  church  of,  difficulty  in 
collecting  the  minister's  rate, 
148-150. 

Noyes,  Rev.  Joseph,  248,  249,  252, 
281. 

Old  Calvinists,  238,  239. 

Old  Lights,  238,  239,  264,  269,  270, 

274,  281. 
Owen,  Rev.  John,  263. 

Paine,  Elisha,  287. 

Paine,  Rev.  Solomon,  254,  257,  287, 
288,  289  ;  memorial  of,  268. 

Parker,  Matthew,  Archbishop,  27. 

Parsons,  Rev.  Jonathan,  241. 

Particular  Court,  395. 

Partridge,  Rev.  Ralph,  106. 

"  Pelham,"  455. 

Pennsylvania,  University  of,  found- 
ed, 322. 

Perkins,  William,  6. 

Peters,  Rev.  Hugh,  82. 

Peters,  John  T.,  427. 

Phenix,  or  Windham  Herald,  428. 

Phi  Beta  Kappa,  Bishop's  oration 
before,  420,  421. 


Phoenix  Bank  of  Hartford,  incorpo- 
ration of,  441-444,  465. 

Pigott,  Rev.  George,  195. 

Pitkin,  Hon.  William,  appeal  for 
church  privileges,  110-114. 

Plan  of  Union,  1801,  366. 

Plan  of  Union,  Franklin's,  322,  323. 

Plymouth,  settlement  of,  29,  33, 34  ; 
friendship  with  Salem,  47,  48; 
eldership  in,  56 ;  church  of,  97. 

Plymouth  Colony,  friendship  of, 
with  Salem,  47-53. 

"Points  of  Difference,"  31,  32,  119. 

Pomeroy,  Rev.  Benjamin,  241,  263, 
269. 

Prayer,  Monthly  Concert  of,  271. 

Presbyterian  and  Congregationalist, 
118,  341,  303  ;  terms  interchange- 
able, 150. 

Presbyterian  cabal  in  Plymouth,  87. 

Presbyterian,  Congregational,  or 
Consociated  Church,  273,  357. 

Presbyterian  General  Assembly, 
embryo  of,  73  ;  work  of,  319, 386. 

Presbyterian  literature  in  Massa- 
chusetts, 72. 

Presbyterianism,  of  Cartwright,  23, 
24  ;  of  the  Millenary  Petition,  28; 
in  England  and  the  Colonies,  82  ; 
in  Cambridge  Platform,  98. 

Presbyterians,  under  Elizabeth,  27; 
among  Puritans,  49 ;  under  Wil- 
liam and  Mary,  124. 

Proposals  of  1705,  133,  134,  332. 

Prudden,  Rev.  Peter,  of  Milford, 
107. 

Punrterson,  Rector  Ebenezer,  281. 

Puritanism,  origin  of  term,  5. 

Puritans,  reason  for  leaving  Eng- 
land, 1 ;  origin  of  term,  5;  policy 
of  Elizabeth  toward,  22-26;  of 
James  I,  28,  35,  36,  39,  41-44; 
idea  of  reform,  38  ;  approachment 
to  Separatists,  34,  35,  37-39  ;  un- 
der Charles  I,  44,  45  ;  scheme  of 
emigration,  45,  46,  52  ;  settlement 
at  Salem,  47,  48  ;  Presbyterianism 
among,  49  ;  Laud's  persecution  of, 
51,  52. 

Quakers,  157, 160, 186,  187,  239,299, 
319,  425,  467,  469  ;  early  converts 
in  Connecticut,  164-167  ;  organi- 
zation of  the  society  of,  167;  atti- 
tude of  Connecticut  towards,  169  ; 
persecution  of,  169  ;  law  against 
"  Heretics,  Infidels  and  Quakers  " 
annulled,  170, 185  ;  complaints  of, 
IS.").  215;  test  case  in  Massachu- 
setts, 215,  216;  exemption  from 
taxes  in  Connecticut,  216,  217, 
371. 


INDEX 


551 


Reforming  Synod  of  1679-80,  122, 
123,  125, 126,  136,  138. 

Religion,  crimes  against,  420. 

Republican  party,  445, 446,  449,  450, 
463,  464,  478,  492  ;  organization 
of,  417  ;  General  Committee  of, 
431.  See  also  Democratic-Repub- 
lican party. 

Revivals  in  New  England,  221,  222, 
226  ;  character  of,  230 ;  of  1800- 
1825,  413-415.  See  also  Great 
Awakening. 

Rhode  Island,  75,  453. 

Robbins,  Rev.  Philemon,  263,  269. 

Robinson,  Rev.  John,  pastor  of  the 
Leyden  Church,  33,  34,  56. 

Rogerines,  157,  160-164,  187,  204- 
206,  371. 

Rogers,  James,  161. 

Rogers,  John,  161,  163,  164,  204. 

Rogers,  Joseph,  161. 

Ross,  Robert,  his  "  Plain  Address," 
141. 

Rotten  Boroughs,  397. 

Salem,  settlement  of,  47-52  ;  friend- 
ship with  Plymouth,  47-53 ;  for- 
mation of  church  at,  52-54  ;  Salem 
covenant,  54  ;  controversy  with 
Williams,  69,  70. 

Saltonstall,  Gov.  Gurdon,  elected 
governor,  135 ;  attitude  toward 
dissenters,  159,  164,  186,  204,  207  ; 
courtesy  to  Episcopalians,  174 ; 
death  of,  198. 

Saudemanians,  340. 

Savoy  Declaration  or  Confession, 
125,  126, 137. 

Saybrook  Articles,  137  ;  discussion 
of,  141-146;  attitude  of  the 
churches  towards,  144. 

Saybrook  Platform,  138-146;  264, 
269,  270,  271,  273,  274,  299,  335- 
339,  341,  365;  proviso  in,  153- 
156.233;   effect  of ,  222. 

Saybrook  Synod,  136,  137. 

Saybrook  System,  99,  289. 

Seabury,  Samuel,  Bishop,  197,  354, 
406. 

Seeker,  Bishop.    See  Episcopate. 

Senate.   See  Council. 

Separate  Church  of  Enfield,  261, 
262. 

Separate  churches,  234-236.  See 
New  Haven  Church,  Milford 
Church,  Enfield  Church,  Canter- 
bury Church. 

Separatism.     See  Separatists. 

Separatist  and  Congregationalist, 
239. 

Separatists,  origin  of  the  term,  5; 
in  England,  6,  20,  21,  25,  27,  29, 


30,  34,  37;  in  exile  in  Holland, 
31;  their  writings,  31-31;  under 
James,  36,  37;  Scrooby-Leyden 
church,  39 ;  influence  upon  New 
England  churches,  39,  40  ;  in  Sa- 
lem, 64  ;  of  the  18th  century  in 
Connecticut,  234  el  seq.,  273,  274, 
276,  277,  278,  279,  282,  283,  284, 
291,  292,  299,  327,  328,  333,  334, 
335,  336,  365 ;  of  Enfield,  261, 262  ; 
expelled  from  the  Assembly,  269; 
of  Saybrook,  277  ;  petition  to  the 
King,  279 ;  exemption  of,  333-335; 
communion  with,  336. 

Services  or  order  of  worship,  56,  57. 

"Seven  Articles,  (The,)"  31,  32, 
33. 

Sewall,  Rev.  Joseph,  229. 

Shakers,  340. 

Shepard,  Rev.  Thomas,  106. 

"  Shepherd's  Tent,  (The,)  "  255, 
256. 

Sherlock,  Bishop.    See  Episcopate. 

Sherman,  Roger  Minot,  454. 

Skelton,  Rev.  Samuel,  of  Salem,  52, 
53. 

Smalley,  Rev.  John,  307. 

Smith,  Rev.  Henry,  of  Wethersfield, 
106. 

Smith,  Gov.  John  Cotton,  438,  451, 
463,  466,  472. 

Smith,  Nathaniel,  454. 

Society  for  the  Propagation  of  the 
Gospel  in  Foreign  Parts,  193,  194, 
313 ;  formation  of,  176,  178,  186; 
reputation  of  priests,  198. 

Society  for  the  Suppression  of  Vice, 
437. 

Stamp  Act,  317,  324. 

Standing  Order,  357,  372,  405,  411, 
421,  432,  436,  446,  471. 

Stand-up  Law,  400,  408,  437,  478. 

Stiles,  Pres.  Ezra,  345,  347,  348, 
363,  412. 

Stoddard,  Rev.  Solomon,  129,  144, 
221,  224  226. 

Stoddarde'anism,  129,  130,  154,  224, 
303,  362. 

Stone,  Rev.  Samuel,  77,  100,  101, 
106,  108. 

Stratford,  Episcopal  church  in,  194. 

Strawbridge,  Robert,  358. 

Strong,  Gov.  Caleb,  450,  451. 

Street,  Rev.  Nicholas,  269. 

Strong,  John,  of  Norwich,  428. 

Stuart,  House  of,  absolutism  of  the, 
41. 

Sugar  Act,  317,  324. 

Swift,  Judge  Zephaniah,  370,  376, 
377,  428,  454,  475,  476. 

Synod,  Savoy.  See  Savoy  Declara- 
tion. 


552 


INDEX 


Synod,  Cambridge.  See  Cambridge 
Synod. 

Synod  of  1G57  (60-called).  See  Min- 
isterial Convention  of  1657. 

Synod  of  1662,  108. 

Synod  of  1G80.  See  Reforming 
Synod. 

Synod,  Saybrook.  See  Saybrook 
Synod. 

Talbot,  John,  missionary  priest, 
174,  175,  177,  185,  192. 

Talcott,  Governor  Joseph,  policy  of, 
198 ;  replies  to  Bishop  Gibson, 
198-200,  205,  206,  207  ;  attitude 
toward  the  Baptists,  217  ;  death 
of,  242. 

Taxation,  ecclesiastical,  in  Connect- 
icut, Massachusetts,  New  Haven, 
and  Plymouth,  58-60,  94 ;  in  Con- 
necticut, 153,  154,  201,  217,  338. 

Taxes,  452.     See  also  Franchise. 

Taylor,  Rev.  John,  412. 

Teacher.  See  Officers  under  Church. 

Tennent,  Rev.  Gilbert,  228,  229, 
237,  241. 

Three  Articles,  The,  23. 

Toleration  Act,  of  1708,  191,  192, 
264;  text  of,  154;  terms  of,  187; 
discussion  of,  188-190  ;  refusal  of, 
to  Presbyterians  or  Congregation- 
alists,  235 ;  extended  to  dissenters 
in  New  Haven  and  Milford,  250  ; 
repeal  of,  250,  260. 

Toleration  and  Reform  Ticket,  471. 

Toleration  Party,  444,  466,  471,  479, 
480,  492. 

Tolerationists,  444,  466,  471,  479, 
480,  492. 

Treadwell,  Gov.  John,  487. 

Trinity  College,  495. 

"  True  Confession,"  31. 

"  True  Description,"  31. 

"  True  Republican,"  428. 

Trumbull,  John,  323. 

Trumbull,  Gov.  Jonathan,  275. 

Unitarians,  340. 
Universalists,  340. 

Wallingford,  church  of,  278. 

War  of  1812,  444,  445,  446,  450-452, 

458-461  ;  proposed  terms  of  peace, 

452. 
Warhain,  Rev.  John,  77,  106. 


Watertown,  church  of,  55,  68,  97. 

Webster,  Noah,  "A  Rod  for  the 
Fool's  Back,"  423,  435. 

Webster,  Rev.  Samuel,  304,  306. 

Wesleyan  College,  495. 

West,  Rev.  Stephen,  307. 

Western  Lands,  360,  361 ;  bills  con- 
cerning, 367,  3G8-392,  393,  414. 

Western  Reserve,  342,  361.  See  also 
Western  Lands. 

Westminster  Assembly,  84. 

Westminster  Confession,  126. 

Wethersfield,  church  of,  74. 

Wetmore,  Rev.  James,  195,  315. 

Wheelock,  Rev.  Eleazar,  241. 

Wheelwright,  Rev.  John,  71. 

White,  Rev.  John,  of  Dorchester, 
England,  47. 

Whitefield,  Rev.  George,  241,  248; 
in  Carolina,  226;  in  Boston,  227; 
in  Newport,  228 ;  visit  to  Edwards, 
229 ;  estimate  of  Mr.  Tennent,  237. 

Whitgift,  John,  Archbishop,  25, 
27. 

Whittlesey,  Rev.  Samuel,  195. 

Williams,  Roger,  46;  controversy, 
69,  70. 

Williams,  William,  401. 

Windham  Herald,  428. 

Windsor  church,  creed  of,  55 ; 
adopts  the  Half-Way  Covenant, 
106. 

Winthrop,  Gov.  John,  55,  68,  71. 

Winthrop,  John,  questions  the  Con- 
necticut law  of  entail,  207-214. 

Winthrop,  Major  Fitz-John,  mission 
to  England,  181. 

Wise,  Rev.  John,  332,  333,  365. 

Wolcott,  Alexander,  487. 

Wolcott,  Gov.  Oliver,  464,  466,  472; 
inaugural  of,  472-478 ;  second  in- 
augural, 481. 

Wolcott,  Gov.  Roger,  275,  336. 

Worship.   See  Services. 

Wyclif,  John,  preachers  of,  4. 

"  X  Y  Z  Papers,"  416. 

Yale  College,  495;  founded,  261  ;  ex- 
pels the  Cleavelands,  255,  257,  258, 
261 ;  expels  David  Brainerd,  256  ; 
opposes  the  New  Lights,  256 ; 
church  of,  280-282  ;  legislature 
favors,  378-380  ;  honors  an  Epis- 
copal cleTgyuiau,  405. 


Electrotyped  and printed  by  H.  O.  Houghton  &*  Co. 
Cambridge,  Mass.,  U.S.  A. 


Date  Due 


